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HiotDgraphic 

Sciences 

Corporation 


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CIHM/ICMH 

Microfiche 

Series. 


CIHM/ICMH 
Collection  de 
microfiches. 


Canadian  Institute  for  Historical  Microreproductions  /  institut  Canadian  de  microreproductions  historiquas 


A 


Tachnical  and  Bibliographic  Notas/Notas  tachniquas  at  bibliographiquas 


Tha  Inttituta  hat  attamptad  to  obtain  tha  bast 
original  copy  availabia  for  filming.  Faaturas  cf  thia 
copy  which  may  ba  bibliographically  uniqua, 
which  may  altar  any  of  tha  imagas  in  tha 
raproduction,  or  which  may  significantly  changa 
tha  usual  mathod  of  filming,  ara  chackad  balow. 


□    Coloured  covars/ 
Couvartura  da  coulaur 


I      I    Covars  damagad/ 


D 


n 


n 


D 


D 


Couvartura  andommag6a 


Covers  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Couverture  restaurie  et/ou  pelliculAe 


I      I    Cover  title  missing/ 


Le  titre  de  couverture  manque 


□    Coloured  maps/ 
Cartes  gAographiquas  en  couleur 


Coloured  ink  (i.e.  other  than  blue  or  black)/ 
Encre  de  couleur  (i.e.  autre  que  bleue  ou  noire) 


/ 1    Coloured  plates  and/or  illustrations/ 
^  I    Planches  et/ou  illustrations  en  coulaur 


Bound  with  other  material/ 
Relii  avec  d'autres  documents 

Tight  binding  may  cause  shadows  or  distortion 
along  interior  margin/ 

La  re  liure  serrAe  peut  causer  de  I'ombre  ou  de  la 
distortion  le  long  de  la  marge  intirieure 

Blank  leaves  added  during  restoration  may 
appear  within  the  text.  Whenever  possible,  these 
have  be^n  omitted  from  filming/ 
II  se  peut  que  certaines  pages  blanches  ajoutias 
lors  d'une  rei^teu ration  app?«r»i«sant  dans  la  taxte, 
mais,  lorsqu£  csri^  Atait  possible,  ces  pages  n'ont 
pas  hxh  filmAes. 

Additional  comments:/ 
Commentairas  supplAmentaires; 


L'Institut  a  microfilm*  le  meilleur  exemplaire 
qu'll  lui  a  M  possible  de  se  procurer.  Les  details 
de  cet  exemplaire  qui  sont  peut-Atre  uniques  du 
point  de  vue  bibliographique,  qui  peuvent  modifier 
una  image  reproduite,  ou  qui  peuvent  exiger  une 
modification  dans  la  m6thoda  normale  de  filmage 
sont  indiquAs  ci-dessous. 

□    Coloured  pages/ 
Pages  de  couleur 

□    Pages  damaged/ 
Pages  endommagdas 

□    Pages  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
Pages  restauries  et/ou  pelliculies 


D 


Pages  discoloured,  stained  or  foxed/ 
Pages  d^colories,  tachetdes  ou  piquies 


[~T1    Pages  detached/ 


Pages  ditachies 

Showthrough/ 
Transparence 

Quality  of  prir 

Qualiti  inigala  de  I'impression 

Includes  supplementary  materit 
Comprend  du  material  supplimentaire 


r~~l    Showthrough/ 

I      I    Quality  of  print  varies/ 

I      I    Includes  supplementary  material/ 


□    Only  edition  available/ 
Seule  Edition  disponible 


Pages  wholly  or  partially  obscured  by  errata 
slips,  tissues,  etc.,  have  been  refilmed  to 
ensure  the  best  possible  image/ 
Les  pages  totalement  ou  partiellement 
obscurcies  par  un  feuillet  d'errata,  une  pelure, 
etc.,  ont  6ti  filmAes  A  nouveau  de  fapon  A 
obtenir  la  meilleure  image  possible. 


Th^ 
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Th 
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This  item  is  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 

Ce  document  est  film*  au  taux  de  reduction  indiquA  ci-dessous. 


10X 

14X 

18X 

22X 

26X 

30X 

J 

12X 


16X 


20X 


24X 


28X 


32X 


A 


x^ 


9 

I  du 

lodifier 
r  une 
Image 


The  copy  filmed  here  has  been  reproduced  thanks 
to  the  generosity  of: 

National  Library  of  Canada 


The  images  appearing  here  are  the  best  quality 
possible  considering  the  condition  and  legibility 
of  the  original  copy  and  in  keeping  with  the 
filming  contract  specifications. 


Original  copies  in  printed  paper  covers  are  filmed 
beginning  with  the  front  cover  and  ending  on 
the  last  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, or  the  back  cover  when  appropriate.  All 
other  original  copies  are  filmed  beginning  on  the 
first  page  with  a  printed  or  illustrated  impres- 
sion, and  ending  on  the  last  page  with  a  printed 
or  illustrated  impression. 


The  last  recorded  frame  on  each  microfiche 
shall  contain  the  symbol  -^  (meaning  "CON- 
TINUED"), or  the  symbol  y  (meaning  "END"), 
whichever  applies. 

Maps,  platfis,  charts,  etc.,  may  be  filmed  at 
different  reduction  ratios.  Those  too  large  to  be 
entirely  included  in  one  exposure  are  filmed 
beginning  in  the  upper  left  hand  corner,  left  to 
right  and  top  to  bottom,  as  many  frames  as 
required.  The  following  diagrams  illustrate  the 
method: 


L'exemplaire  film6  f ut  reproduit  grfice  d  la 
g6n6rosit6  de: 

Bibliothdque  nationale  du  Canada 


Las  images  suivantes  ont  6t6  reproduites  avec  le 
plus  grand  soin,  compte  tenu  de  la  condition  et 
de  la  nettetd  de  l'exemplaire  film6,  et  en 
conformity  avec  les  conditions  du  contrat  de 
filmage. 

Les  exemplaires  originaux  dont  la  couverture  en 
papier  est  imprim6e  sont  filmte  en  commenpant 
par  le  premier  plat  et  en  terminant  soit  par  la 
dernidre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration,  soit  par  le  second 
plat,  selon  le  cas.  Tous  les  autres  exemplaires 
originaux  sont  film^s  en  commengant  par  la 
premidre  page  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration  et  en  terminant  par 
la  derniAre  page  qui  comporte  une  telle 
empreinte. 

Un  des  symboles  suivants  apparaftra  sur  la 
dernidre  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  selon  le 
cas:  le  symbols  — ►  signifie  "A  SUIVRE",  le 
symbole  V  signifie  "FIN". 

Les  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc.,  peuvent  dtre 
fiimds  A  des  taux  de  reduction  diffdrents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  dtre 
reproduit  en  un  seul  clich6, 11  est  film6  d  partir 
de  Tangle  supirieur  gauche,  de  gauche  d  droite. 
et  de  haut  en  bas,  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'images  ndcessaire.  Les  diagrammes  suivants 
illustrent  la  mdthode. 


irrata 
to 


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1 

2 

3 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

THE 


1^ 


NEW  WORLD: 


■  KBKAOXICO 


AMERICAN  HISTORY. 


ay 


HENRY    HOWARD    BROWNELL,    A.  M. 


VOL.    II. 

The  English  In  America.  —  History  of  the  Foundation  or  the  several 

Provinces:  their  Colonial  Government !  Resistance  to  England.— 

The  American  Revolution.  —  History  of  the  United  States. 

—The  Sandwich  Islands,  etc.,  etc. 

WITH 


NUMEROUS  'BEAUTIFUL   ILLUSTRATIONS, 

DRAWN    AND    COLOURED    AFTER   NATURE, 

SMBXACIXa  PORTRAITS,  SCESBRT,    CURIOSITIES,  CITIES,  PUBUC  EDIFICES,  BTO,  ±Ta 


NEW  YORK; 
PUBLISHED  BY  GURDON  BILL. 


I8ri8. 


CONTENTS. 


PART  VI. 
THE  ENULISH  IN  AMERICA. 

EARLT  VOYAGES  AND  ATTEMPTS  AT  COLUNIZATIOR. 

OHiPTIR  I.  PAOIB 

Bebastlaii  Cubot— Ills  Youth— Ilia  First  Voyage,  and  Discovery  of  North  America;  His  Second  Voy- 
age, and  Futile  Attempt  at  Colonization ;  Obwure  Interval  In  his  Life;  bo  serve*  In  Spain ;  HIa 
ExpcMlltion  under  Henry  VUI. ;  Appointed  Grand  Pilot  of  Spain;  His  Expedition  to  South  Amer- 
ica; His  Return  to  England,  Services,  Old  Age,  and  Death, 17 

OBAPTIR   II. 

Tlie"DominusVobiacum"— Failure  and  Miffortune;  Improvement  or  the  English  Marine;  Martin 
Frobtfihi'r— Uls  Voyngo  in  Search  of  a  North-west  Passage;  Diminutive  Equipments  of  the  Early 
UlDCovercrs ;  Supposed  Discovery  of  Gold  Ore;  Second  Expedition  of  Frobisher;  Surveys;  Con- 
tost  with  the  Esquimaux;  His  Third  Expedition;  Its  Failure, S3 

CHAPTIR  III. 

£ni(1ish  Enterprise;  Draico;  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert;  His  First  Attempt  to  Colonize  America;  Sir 
Waller  Raleigh ;  Sir  Humphrey  Sails  fur  America ;  Shipwrecks  and  Misfortunes ;  the  Keturn  Voy- 
age; Tempests;  Lossof  ii^ir  Humphrey  and  his  Crow, SO 

CHAPTER  IV. 

The  Patent  of  Raleigh  ;  he  Dispatches  Amiilas  and  Bnrlow  to  Ciirollna— their  Report ;  Iho  Country 
named  VIrginin;  Voyngbs  of  Dnvis,  &c. ;  Second  Expedition  of  Raltileh,  under  I.nno;  Settlement 
ot  Riianuke ;  Folly  and  Cruelty  of  the  English  ;  the  Indians ;  Moasucro  by  the  English ;  Failure  and 
Return  of  the  Expedition, 20 

CHAPTBB  V. 

SniHll  Selllement  planted  by  Grenvillo  at  Roanoke  Destroyed  by  the  Indians;  Third  Expedition  of 
liiiltiigh ;  First  English  Child  in  America ;  Iiuss  uiid  Supposed  Destruction  of  Ihe  Roanoke  Colony ; 
MiBfurtunus  of  Raleigh;  Tardiness  and  lil-fortune  of  English  Enterprise;  Reflections, 33 


THE   SETTLEMENT   OF   VIRGINIA. 

CHAPTER    I. 

.Memoir  of  Cnptnin  John  Smith  ;  His  Youthful  Adventures  and  Services ;  he  turns  Hermit ;  HIa  Ad- 
venlures  in  Frntico ;  he  Is  flung  Overboard  ;  Sea-flght ;  Travels  in  Italy  ;  His  Cnmpnign  against  the 
Tmks;  Hiege  of  Regnll ;  the  Tiireu  Turks'  lleniis ;  ymilh  sent  a  Slave  to  Tarlary— his  Wonderful 
Escape;  Subsequent  Adventures;  Returns  to  England, 30 

CHAPTER    II. 

Virginian  Colonization  Revived ;  Patent  of  James  I. ;  Ill-assorlod  Company  of  Settlers;  the  Expedi- 
tion Hails  for  America;  Accidentally  enters  Jnmoa  River;  Ill-treatment  of  Smith  ;  Intercourse  with 
the  Indiana;  Jamestown  Founded;  Excnrslim  of  Smith  and  Newport;  Powhatan;  the  Indians  of 
Virginia, 49 

CHAPTRK    III. 

Trial  and  Vindication  of  Smith ;  Famine  and  TerrlliUi  Mortality;  Smith,  by  his  Exertions,  supports 
tl:e  Colony  ;  Treachery  of  hie  Assuciales ;  Deulinga  willi  the  Indians ;  Idle  and  Misorubiu  Colonists,    40 


m 


CONTE.NTS. 

6 

on^mn  it.                                                           Pkaa 
Exprdillon  nnil  Capture  of  Pmilh— hit  SlrniiKO  Ad  voiiliirtia  ntnutig  Iho  Iiiillsna ;  Conjiirstioni  parfurmfU 
ovur  him;  lio  Is  Carrlcil  to  P<iwliiit(kii ;  Hit  Litu  tJnvi'il  by  Pucaliuiilai ;  Btraiigu  Mitai|uerad«  of 
Tuwhutau;  Ucloasu  and  Ruturu  uftiinltli, 4g 

OIIAPIBR   V. 

PrIvBtloiMortheCiilonlit*;  Relloved  by  Pocaliuntos;  Arrival  of  Newport  rVom  Enijlniid;  Intercmiraa 
and  Tiamc  with  PuwIihIbii  ;  llluo  llrada  for  Crown  Juwela ;  ImaRlnary  (Jiild  Mine ;  Smith's  Voyage 
in  the  UhMa|i«ake ;  luterviewt  with  numuruui  Native  Triboa ;  8ting-ray  Puint ;  Ilia  Keiiirn, S2 

CHAPTEH    VI. 

8mllh  made  Prealdunt;  he  Roaiimei  the  Purvey ;  the  Siipqiivhannaa;  Advpntui-pi  with  the  Indians; 
Rumarkabie  Feat  or  Snrvi'y  ;  Reliim  to  Jamoalown;  Arrival  of  Newport;  Abaiird  Inatructiona  of 
the  Kngliah  Company;  the  Coronation  uf  Powhatan;  Untucceaarul  Attempt  of  Newport  toUiid  the 
South  8ea, 55 

OBAPTIH  Til. 

Plot  agalnat  E<mlth ;  Ills  letter  to  the  Company ;  Ilia  EITorta  to  Bupport  Iho  Colony ;  Expodlllon  to 
Surpriao  Powhatan ;  Artftil  Hpcochoa,  and  Mutual  Treachery ;  the  Engliah  again  Saved  by  Pocaliuiitaa,    S9 

CBAPTIR  VIII. 

The  Plot  at  Pamimkey— Defeated  by  the  Daring  and  Energy  uf  Brollh  ;  the  Colony  Supplied  ;  Smith 
Polaoned;  Ilia  Uniicrupuluus  Policy;  Ilia  Fight  with  the  King  of  Paapahegh;  » Pretty  Accldenia'* 
■muog  the  ludlana, 01 

OBAPTBB   IZ. 

Idleneaa  of  the  Settlera ;  Eloquent  Speech  and  Vigoroua  Policy  of  Smith ;  the  New  Virginia  Company ; 
Uiijuat  Auumptlon  i>r  Powit;  Smith  Deposed ;  Croat  Expoditlou  diaputchetl  Trom  KMi^land—lll- 
fortuue;  Arrival  uf  Numeroua  Immigrants ;  Anarchy;  Smith  R<<a8aumo8  the  Prealdeiicy, (n 

CUAPTXH   X. 

Futile  Attempt!  at  Founding  Now  Seltlementa;  Folly  and  Obatlnacy  of  the  Colonlats;  i*mlth  lerrllily 
Injured;  He  Returna  to  England;  ilia  Servicea  to  the  Colony;  Awful  Suffering  and  Mortallly  after 
hia  Departure, 07 

OHAPTIB    XI. 

&ltMnolr  of  Smith,  continued  and  concludi'd ;  Ilia  Vo)  age  to  New  England,  and  Surveys ;  Ills  Si'cond 
Expedition;  Ilia  Advciilurcs  among  tlie  Pirates— his  l^caiie;  Ills  Great  Eiurllons  for  Ihu  Mcitle- 
nu'Ot  of  Ni'W  England;  Interesting  Interview  between  Smith  and  Pocahontas  in  England;  Lost 
Years  of  Smith ;  Ilia  Death;  Ilia  Character  and  Achievementis 69 

CHAPTIB   XII. 

Arrival  of  (latea;  Miserable  Condition  of  the  Colony  ;  Jamestown  Denertml;  Arrival  of  Lord  tk-U- 
ware — of  8ir  Thomas  Dale;  Kxertiona  of  the  Company;  Increased  Inimigralion;  the  Ciilliire  of 
Tobocco  iiilriKlucod,  anil  EoKerly  Purminl ;  Tyranny  of  Argall— his  Displaceinent ;  Gri;at  .Accession 

of  Immigrants;  Wives  purchased  with  Tobacco;  Liberal  (Joncessions  to  the  IVilonista, 77 

cnAPTKR  xi;i 

Wyalt  Governor;  Neani  Slaver)-  inlroduceil ;  Death  of  Pnwhnlan  and  Siicces^lim  of  Oppchnncnnoiiiih  ; 
Pliil  IVuM'il  l)y  llm  l.altiT ;  Tmilile  .Miissncre  of  llie  Kiiijlisli ;  Drpn-ssiun  of  llie  Colony ;  I'siirpa- 
lloii  of  llie  Pall-Ill  by  Janii's  1.;  Priiileiil  Policy  lowunl  llie  CAjliiiiisIs, ^ 

THE  SETTLEMENT  OF  SEW  ENGLAND. 

CriAPTKR    I. 

I'lisiiccesafut  Altempis  of  the  Plymouth  Company  In  ."illli-  New  England  ;  Persecution  of  the  Non- 
conrurnilBlB;  Kitii'iil  of  Hnbiiisoii's  CoiiKreifalion  lo  Holland— Iheir  IliKh  Chnraclor— their  Uffnlii- 
tion  111  Plant  u  Colony— their  I.oyally  and  Couragu— Departure  from  Delft  Haven, (<3 

OHAirXR    II. 

Slonny  Vnyiice  of  the  Pilgrims  to  America ;  they  Arrive  at  Cape  Cml— are  Compelled  lo  Dlaemlmrk 
— liiBlilutea  liepnlilic;  Ihcir  Siinpln  (.'onsllUilion  ;  Curver  elected  Governor;  .Absence  of  Peisonnl 
Ambition  among  the  Puritan  Settlers, PO 

CUAITKK    in 

Drnary  A|iiicHranci' of  Srvt  F.nirlanil ;  Explnriiiii  Parly  ;  Hlninife  Iiijniiid' to  the  Indiana;  The  Voyage 
til  PI)iiioiilli  llarljiiiir;  Sliirinifli  willi  llii'  HiivHKf»;  Hi'llliininl  of  Pljininilh  I'oiind.d ;  Gn-iit  .fuf- 
feriiig  and  Mortality  among  ihe  Pili^rims, cjj 


CONTENTS.  7 

OHAPTtR   IV.  TkaU 

The  Indlani  of  New  Bnglwid— thinned  by  rcallluiicu ;  ihe  Pcquots,  Narrnganaittto,  nnd  other  Tribes ; 
Extraordinary  <J|iliiloiii  of  thtt  KiikIIbIi  cuncuriiInK  thoin ;  Bigoted  Aocoimtii  of  the  Annlont  lliato- 

rians,  etc., 81 

OHAFTIR  V. 

qmnutct— "  Wolcnme,  Engllahmrn ;'*  the  Vlait  of  Maaaiiaolt;  Treaty  and  Alliance;  Mortality  among 
Ihu  Colonlata;  l)uuth  or (joveruor  Carver;  Uiiul,  and  Ita  Punlahmunt ;  Villi  to  Musaasuit— tu  lyuu- 
uugli ;  AITouting  Incident, 95 

OnAPTKH   VI. 

Arrival  of  Ihe  Fortune;  Challenge  from  Canonlciia— hia  Huperatitluus  Dread;  Plymouth  Fortified; 
VVealon'*  Colony  at  Weymouth— Ita  Miaurubie  Condition;  Miuaaaoit  Hi— cured  by  the  Engilah; 
<>angeroui  Plot  Revealed, OH 

OHAFTBR   VII. 

Expedition  of  Slandiah  to  Weymouth ;  Daring  Policy ;  Slaughter  of  the  Conapiring  Indiana ;  the  Col- 
ony of  V\'eatiin  llroken  up;  Privationa  and  tiufferingaat  Plymouth— Drought— deuaonable  Supply  of 
Rain ;  Additional  Arrival, lOi 

OHAPTBR  Vi:i. 

New  Beltlementi  Founded ;  New  Ilampahire  and  Maine ;  Endicott'a  Company ;  the  Rnvcllera  of 
Merry  Mount— Broken  up  by  the  Purilnna;  Settlement  of  Maaauchuaetta;  Foundation  of  Boaton; 
Great  Emigratiun ;  Mortality  and  Suffuring, IU4 

CUAFTER   IS. 

Character  cf  the  Founders  of  Maaanchnaelta ;  Re Kulutlona  for  Public  Morality— for  Apparel,  etc. ; 
Amuaiug  Punultloa ;  Intolerance  in  Religion ;  Commencement  or  Peraiculion, 107 

CHAPTER   Z. 

Rev.  RoBcr  Williams;  Ilia  Liberal  Opinions;  he  la  Persecuted  by  the  Authorities  of  Massnchusetta ; 
Expelled  from  that  Province ;  tukea  Rerugu  In  the  Wiiderneas ;  Founds  Providence  Plantutions  and 
the  State  of  Rhode  Island, 1(19 

CHAPTER   ZI. 

Si'ttlpmont  of  Connecticut  by  Plymouth— by  MnnKiichuaelts ;  llnrdahips  of  the  Colonist*;  Foumlnlion 
iif  llarirord,elc ;  Emigration  under  Hooker— New  Haven  Founded;  Ciimmt^ncemcnt  of  the  Pequot 
VVht;  Influence  of  Roger  Williurni>, l\i 

CHAPTER   ZH. 

The  Pequot  War,  continued;  the  Attack  on  Wotherafleld ;  Expedillon  under  Miison ;  Surprlsio  nnd 
Slormingof  Iho  Pequot  Fort- Terrible  Sluugbter  nnd  C-onlliignilion ;  Final  Diftat  and  ni'Btrucllon 
uf  the  Tribe;  Barbarous  Exultation  of  the  Early  Historians;  Reflections, 114 

THE  SETTLEMENT  OF   MAUTLAND. 

CHAPTER    I. 

Sir  Oeorce  Culvert— his  Schemes  for  Pelllemenia  in  Amerien— ho  Oblnins  the  Ornnt  of  Maryland- 
rounds  » t'oloiiy  lliere;  yellletnoiil  (jI  Si.  .Mnrj's;  Kiliiliuhs  witli  llii>  Imliiuis;  Expulsion  of  Clay- 
borne  ;  Discontent  und  Insurrection ;  Protestant  c'etllers ;  Act  for  the  Toleration  of  till  Christian  Seels,  118 

CHAPTilR    II. 

Arbitrary  Syalem  of  Lord  Bnllimore;  Disiiflt'Clion  of  the  Protestant  Settlers ;  Interference  of  the  Vir- 
ginia ('iiniini«.iiiimra;  Alfaii-s  in  EiikIiiiuI  ;  Triumph  of  lliu  rriilosliinl»;  Repeal  of  Tcileriilinn; 
Civil  War;  Victory  of  ihe  IVotestanls ;  I'ciidiili's  liuurrtclion— his  Success  and  Final  Rnln  ;  Tiplur- 
atiun  Restored, 131 


VIKGINIA — CONTINUED. 


OIHPTKR    I. 

Belgn  of  Charles  I.— bis  Views  of  Vb-ginln ;  Veardley,  Covernor— West— HarvtT— bis  Deposition  by 
llie  People— lie  la  Supported  by  the  CVown;  Wyall;  Sir  William  lifrkeley,  foivcriKir;  Loyally  of 
the  Ciiliiiiy ;  IVrii'CUlion  of  Dii-siMitcis;  Si'dUul  liiiliiinCnnspiraey  and  Mavsjicrr;  ()p<vhnat<;(iii'iii;li 
a  Prisoner— his  ."Jpcccli— Murdered  l)_v  a  SoldlcTi  Rcduclinn  of  thf  Indian-*;  Tiiuniph  of  llie  I'uii- 
taiw  in  England  ;  Royaliht  liinigiallon  to  Virginia;  l.oyiiJly  of  the  Provijicv-, 101 


CONTKNTS. 


1   I 


riiAMiru  II                                                                 I'Aiiii 
Act  for  the  ItiNliiellnn  of  VlrvlniB  ;  thn  NiivlKntloii  Act ;  MiHlnrulliin  nf  thn  I'urlliiinnnI ;  PiibmliHluii 
o(  Iho  Priivliioi);  llmnirll,  Cnvurnor— Olvvn— Miillicwi;  Ji'uloiivy  iifihii  AtM'nilily  nvnlimi  Komivn 
Inlurffrnnce ;  rrutKliim  anil  PruH|ii'rily  iir  VlrKinln  under  Ihii  Ciiinmoiiwuiillli ;  Dvutli  ufCroinwfll ' 
Borkolu),  Uovcriior ;  Itoalurutluii  ufChiirli'a  II. ;  lu  III  F.OiicI  on  the  I'rovliico, jjc^. 

KEW  ENGLAND — OONTTNtJED. 

CnAPTKH   I. 

Inimical  Mouiiim  ndoplcd  In  EnRlnnd  ;  Pplrll  of  MnaancliiiJifitt*— Tlirrnl  of  Revolt ;  the  Eiigllah  Rev 
ulutlun;  IiuluHtry  hiiU  PriMpority  uf  New  Knglnnd— iti  lndt'|i(iiMluncu;  Nuw  lUinpahlru  Aiiimii<d 
lu  Maaaucliiuotla ;  Furiuatluii  uf  the  Nuw  England  Uunruderacy, J3g 

OriAPTBH    It. 

Udcui  and  Mlantiinimo ;  Defont  and  Death  (if  the  Latter;  Dlacrcdit  to  the  Engllah ;  Rhode  lalaiid— 
Iti  Llbrrtii'a  (iunmnttrd  by  the  Pnrllninriit;  Letter  to  Sir  Henry  Vune  ;  Rcniurkuble  Freuduni  En- 
joyed Ibere ;  Maine  Annexed  by  Muasuchuaetta, jj-j 

CUAPTXll   III. 

Opposition  to  the  Maafiat'hiiai'ttii  Anthoritlea ;  Purllamentary  Encroachment  Realatinl  and  Relinqnlshfd ; 
New  England  Euvoured  by  Cromwell;  DiKottNl  and  Intolerant  Lawaof  MmwocliuMttli;  Pcraocutinn 
of  IliiptiaU;  the  Umikera— Peraecution  uf  them— Fuur  Executed— their  Oounme  and  Fortitude; 
Apuloghta  fur  the  llaiiKinga ;  Uefluctiolis, |3(; 

OBAPTIH  IT. 

Education  In  MiiKsnchuaolts ;  Harvard  College;  Reatoraliun  of  ChnrlcD  II.;  Oppreuirn  Enacltnenia 
conccrnini;  Commerce;  Attitude  uf  the  (Julunius;  Wlutfaropi  the  Yuunger;  Cunuccticut  obtuins 
■  Charter— her  Freedom  and  Proapurily, ]4I 

CHAPTRR   T. 

The  Charter  of  RhiMie  Inland;  Civil  and  Rellgioua  Liberty;  Careieaaand  ElxtenaivenranlaofCliarlea 
II.;  th«  Attitude  of  Mua!<nchua«tla— Diatruat  of  the  Reatorution;  Reqniaitloiia  uf  Chiirlea  II.;  A|i- 
poiniment  uf  a  Commlaaiuii ;  Alarm  of  the  Ouluny, 143 

CBAPTKR    VI. 

Renionalrnnce  of  Msssachuaetts ;  Doinga  of  the  Cominlnalonors— their  Dinpiitea  with  the  Autliorilica— 
their  Dltoinifliuru  unci  Return  to  Kiiglund ;  Hucceaaful  Reaiatanco  of  Moiwachuaetla ;  Inertnena  of 
the  Crown ;  Proaperily  and  Trade  uf  the  Province, |.|j 

CUM'TKK    VI t, 

C^.ndili.in  of  the  New  Englnnd  Indiana— Conversion  of  aimie  of  thorn— their  Numbers  and  Sirenidh; 
Iho  Pokiinokelb';  Meliiconiet,  or  Kinir  Philiji— his  (irievancea — Dinainiiilnl Ion— Scheme  for  llie  De- 
struction of  the  Engliah;  CnplainChurch— hia  Character, etc.— he  Diacunct^rtaun  Inlhguuof  Pliillp,  M7 

CBAPTIH  viit. 
Cimmnncement  of  Philip's  War;  Exploit  of  Churcli;  Ki treat  of  the  Indliin»;  Philip  Itnu^en  Iho 
TrilH«<;  DcMruelliiri  ofTowmselc;  tlu)  .Xtlnck  on  lliullcy— Ri'puipied  bj  (I'lifli';  (Jivul  I,ii>»iw(ir  the 
Eiigilsli ;  !<|>rliitilleld  Burned, ISO 

CHAPTKU    IX. 

Philip's  VVnr, continued;  DeatructInn  of  the  Niirniuanacit  Fort— Terrible  Massacre;  Malignant  Exiil- 
tiitiiin  of  the  F.nrly  Mi!iti)riHna;  Indltm  f^uccesoea;  (Rupture  and  Death  uf  Cuiionchet— hia  lleruism 
and  Muirniuiimlty ;  Diplomury  of  Church, .'. ISII 

CHAI'TKrt    T. 
Ptiilip'it  War,  cnnllnued  ;  Hucceaaful  Cnmpiilgn  of  Church  ;  Defeat  and  Ciiplure  of  the  Savapes ;  Pliil- 
ip'a  liicpiiir— he  Keireala  to  Mount  llii|>o — la  Defciiled  and  Hluin— Karbarous  Expuauru  uf  hia  K(  - 
niaina~his  Chaiucter, I.^j 

OHAPTKn    SI 
PMIip'a  War,  conclu.lnl ;  rn[i(ure  of  Aiuinwon  nod  lilx  Wurriiira,  by  Chiireh;  Itomaiilic  Inciilenia; 
Siimiiinry  of  Ihe  War;  Pliilip'a  Son;  llarbaroua  Policy  of  tlie  VIctorw;   Mnrderoua  Ailviee;  lh« 
Character  uf  the  Puritans ;  Rellectiuna, 1M 

oiiArrsK   XII. 
R.'nnwpd  lalerfercnce  of  tlie  Crnwn  In  Mamachiiwlta;  Heveranci)  of  Now  Hnmp»hlre — Ailempl  to 
T>ranniie  llieri — iln  Failure  ;  Ac!. on  of  Ma^-.ieliusi-lla  ;  Profei<lliH{S  ng.ilnat  Its  ('liarler ;  VninOp- 
poailiun  and  Itemniialrunce ;  the  Charter  Annulled, ICl 


CONTENTS. 


9 


SKTTLEMBHT   OF   THE  CAROLINAS.  vaoi 

niture  10  PlMit  CuloniM  In  Iho  South ;  EmiRrtlion  Tram  VIrglnIk  Ui  Nurth  CaroIInt— from  Barba<ln«i 
to  Htiuth  Unrtillna;  the  Patunt  o(  Uhwlm  II.;  IjegUlatlon  uf  Lorko  and  Hhafloabury  ;  Cumbruui 
ByilnniofUuVHrniDviit;  UiKonlfntor  thnBultleri;  IniurrocllonliiNurlhUarullna;  tlolliel  depmud 
by  the  Peoplu ;  Cbarleiloo  Fuuiidod ;  CuiiitUutlon  uf  Luck»  Uollnquliliod, 1U4 

VIBOIIIU— (COHTINUED. 

OaAPTIR  I. 

Botriignule  Mornmenta  In  Viridnla;  Revival  of  Intolerance  and  Oppreialon;  Grant  of  Virginia  to 
C'ulpiipper  and  Arlington;  Pupular  UiMontent;  Indian  War;  Murder  of  the  Cblofa;  Inturrecllon 
uudur  Uaeon;  Triumph  of  the  People, IW 

CHAPTBR   II. 

Tbe  Papular  Aaaombljr;  Meaiureaof  Ruform;  Opposltlun  and  Troaehrry  of  Berkelay;  Civil  War; 
Triumph  of  the  Iniurgpnla;  Jameitown  llurnud;  Death  uf  llacon— hit  Character ;  Ruin  of  the  Pup- 
ular (Jaute;  Numeroua  Executloni;  Death  uf  liorkolvy;  Admlnlitratlon  of  Culpepper,  etc., 17U 

THE   SETTLEMENT  OF   DELAWARE. 

Hiu  Flr«l  Dutch  Colony  in  Delaware— III  Deilructlon;  Swedea  and  Flnni  under  MInult;  Conqueit 
of  Ihu  Hwedlah  8etllomi<nli  by  the  Dutch,  under  Htuyvonnnt;  Delaware  umlvr  the  Duko  of  Yurk— 
iiiiilvr  Penn;  Diaputot  with  Maryland  eonceniing  lluundarlei;  Beparutlun  uf  Delaware  rnim 
Penniylvanla, 174 

THE   SETTLEMENT  OF  NEW  JERSET 

t;<inquett  by  Ihe  Engllah;  NIcholn,  lierkeley,  and  Carteret;  Emigration  frum  New  England;  t3ale  of 
Wutt  New  Jersey  t(i  the  Quakcra ;  Fuiiwlck,  llylllngH,  and  Punn;  Quaker  Scttlumenta ;  ilumurkubly 
Free  Cunaliliillun ;  Friendly  Dealing!  with  the  Indiana;  Usurpatlun  uf  Andrus— it*  Defeat;  Enat 
NowJcraey, 170 


THE   SETTLEMENT  OF  PENNSYLVANIA. 

OHAl'  .  XH    I. 

William  Penn— bla  Youth— he  turna  Quaker— is  Expelled  from  College  and  Hotne— Imprisoned  for 
hia  Opinions- Severity  of  his  Fntber— Fresh  Imprisonment— Exertions  In  Iluhiiif  of  his  Suet— ho 

Engages  in  the  Bettlement  of  New  Jersey, 171) 

OHAPTia   It. 

Penn  obtains  from  Chnrlea  II.  the  firant  of  Pennsylvonia- his  Admirable  Proclnnmtiim  to  the  Pot- 
tlera— he  Repairs  to  America— Gains  Possension  of  Delaware— llonourubio  DuaiiUHS  with  the  In- 
diuiis— their  Attachment  to  him ;  the  Great  Treaty, Iril 

OHAPTKH   III. 

Liberal  legislation  of  Pennsylvania;  Penn  Founds  Philadclpbio-its  Rapid  Increase;  Forninlion  of 
H  Constitution ;  Great  Emigration  from  Europe ;  Growth  of  the  Province ;  Penn  returns  to  England  ; 
Ilia  Subsequent  Career, 184 


THE   KOKTHERN   COLO;  Xi; 3  -CONTINUED. 
OBAPTIH  I. 

BIr  Edmund  Andros  Cnmmlsshmed  by  the  Dnke  of  York- his  Attempts  to  Extend  his  Authority  over 
Connecticut;  Thomas  DoiiKan  ;  Union  of  the  Colonies  under  a  Royal  (Jovernor;  Andros  appolnte<l 
(iovernor-gcneral ;  Oppression  in  the  Colonies ;  Proceedings  iigainat  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island ; 
Anctroa's  Viait  to  Omnecticut;  Preservation  of  the  Charter;  the  Northern  Provinces  forced  to  Sub- 
niiasiou ;  Doings  In  New  England  upon  the  Uccurrence  of  the  Revolution  of  lG<Jil, 187 

CHAPTKH    II. 

Kew  York  Subsequent  to  the  Revolution  of  Uk'H ;  Assumption  of  Authority  by  Jacob  Lelsler— Oppo- 
Bition  by  the  Council ;  Indian  Incursions;  Arrival  of  Siougliter  as  Governor;  Trial  nnil  Execution 
of  liuialer  and  Milbourne;  i;oh>nel  Fletcher— his  Futile  Allompt  to  Enforce  Authority  in  Connecti- 
cut; Church  Difficulties;  Uellumonl's  Peaceable  Administration;  Captain  Kidd,  the  Pirate, I'.U 


10 


0ONTKNT8. 


onirrru  iii. 


New  Charter  of  MMtnoliiiMlU;  Trinli  for  Wltrhcrnri  In  Hiilom;  Klnl  Kxi'eulinii;  Prtrrla  nnd  hli 
hiiolly;  Court  uf  KxNnilniiltnii  lit  Hnlciii;  (JiilUiii  MiiIIiit;  Arriviil  uf  i'hl|i|»i;  Niiiiiiriiui  t'.x<'cii- 
UoMi  CuiiIi'mIuiii  i  Crui'lllui  liinicli'tl ;  t'huii)ia  In  Public  Opliiluiii 


I' An  I 


194 


CHAl'TKIt    17 
(.'iiolroviiray  ('iMiri>rtiliii(Uuri'nuc;  l«utpi>cU'il  Ni'Hru  H^vull  In  Ni'W  Yurk— Muck-lrliilm  '  the  AciiiihI 
— Iliirlmriiui  I'uiiiahiiU'nli;  CiuiiKTllciit— (hv  Hn)l>riiiik  I'liiHiiriii ;  MuMiichuactla— ItiirnliiKnr  Dcpr- 

IilM  — Dincultliw  bulwi'on  lliu  (•uvitrniini  ami  Autimblii  n;  Niiw  I'    nimlilro — Attack  iiii  I'licnvcii 

l^untcrn  Indian  War;  Ilhiidu  Ulanil— ill  t'liinmrr'-iul  I'mninTiiy  ;    <>iw  Jeravy— U|i|Hiiltluii  tu  Arbi- 
bwy  Taiutluu— ricutch  linmltfratlun— PrmpiMity  uf  tha  Culuny— lu  Uiiluii  with  New  Yurk, 197 

THE   BOrjiilERN   COLONIEH — CONTINUED. 
OnAPTKR   I. 

Charter  or  the  Coliiny  nr  neorsls ;  FIrel  Arrlviil  ofCulunlala;  Rt'tllrmcnt  orPavnnnah;  Indian  Npkii- 
tlutioni;  Miiry  iMiinKnivii;  CumIimi  ul  Indian  Clulmi;  Chiiraclvr  uf  lmiulf(raiit«  tu  lit'urKiaj  Tmlllo 
lu  Neftniv^  Priihil>ll4Hl  i  t'rudurlcii  Fuundud  ;  War  with  8|»hi, gg] 

oiiAPrcn  II 

URivthorpo'i  F.x|i<'dllliin  Bgalnsl  01,  AuKHilIno— Pii'uo  of  llin  Town— Failure  and  Rclurn  of  the  Kx- 
IHHiltliin  ;  t<|iiiiili>h  InvunUin  In  I74'J;  Difi-nro  of  Frcdcrlcnj  KtrnlaRvm  uf  Oiflcthiirpo;  Tliimm* 
Uoaumwurth— hl«  Inlrlguvi  with  tlir  Indium— Lltlgiitluii  with  the  Culuny  ;  Georgia  ■  Ruyal  Ptuvlncu,  SO) 

CIIAl'TKIl   in. 

8i>uth  Carollim— Ri'llsrioiit  Contruvemiea— Arch<lalc'«  Adinliililratlun— Moore'a  Kxpnllliun  titalnst 
tJt.  Auituslinc  -liuttiilon  uf  liidinii  Torrilory— Frvncli  Fleet  iin  the  Oiuit— CuUiiru  ol  Kiru— indiaii 
Ciina|ilrary— Ititviilt  aitainat  Ihu  Propneliim— thu  Charier  di'Clared  Forfeit— 8<)Uth  C'urullna  a  Royal 
Provliico;  North  Carolina— Political  liiitiirtjaiicvt— a  Piua|H.'ruua  Anarchy— t>(<parMiun  rroini<oiith 
Ciirul  I  no, "00 

OBAPTCn  17. 

i^lntlrila  under  Royal  fjovornon— Hlato  uf  tho  Colony— Church  Cuntruvoriloi ;  PennnylvaidaaRnyal 
Province— ilic  Proprlilor  Ileiii'lMliil— Policy  of  Puiin  ;  Diliiwiiri'— Deiiih  of  IViin— liin  Hiicccjuur^; 
Murjlaiiil— llH  I'litholic  Popululion— (iuvornnient  uf  thu  AMoclallon  — DpproMivu  lCiiHclnii'iitii--tlio 
Frupriulori  Ufulortil 812 

INDIAN   WARS,  ETa 
OHAPTKH  I. 

(Aimmencemeiit  of  the  rherokee  Wnr— Treaty  at  Fort  St.  fieorgc— Piege  of  that  Fort— Murder  of 
llintaiie*— MoiilBoniery'ii  ('ainpaigii— I)e''lriicllon  of  Iho  Lower  Cherokeu  HeltlemenU— Itclrrnt— 
Maitracru  of  thi'  (lurrinun  uf  Fort  Luudon— the  Tuwnt  uf  tho  Middle  Cherukeot  dealruyod  by  the 
Fun'va  uiutur  Ijrant, j*] 

rilAPTFH    tl 
Eittjlii-h  Ocrupnlic  n  of  Ihe  Wei-li  rii  Triidiiiu  Poi-I'';  ('ciiii-iilrnry  of  llin  North-weatern  Trllica,  under 
J'oiiliac;  Denlrucliuii  of  the  I'lKliBh  Form;  Tnkini;  of  .Micliilliinnrkiiiiic;  Hicku  of  Detroit;  \,„rfi 
Ut  Uluody-run  ;  Clone  uf  thu  Wur  ;  Mufisucru  uf  Ihu  CuiiestuKil  Indiuim, 2|0 

EUKOPEAN   COLONIAL   POLTCY. 

Kiwiilnh  and  Enulii-h  Rei>lrlcllon«  upon  Trade  iind  Coniiiurre  ;  ('(Hilniliiiud  Truffle;  the  "  .Amienlp" 
Tniily  ;  Ihu  Slave-ltiide— Its  lleiierul  Pi'piilanly-  I'aiiiKu  which  lead  lo  Ihii  Aliolitlon  of  Hlavery — 
Muniier  of  Pniciiiiiiit  Nei{roc»  from  Africa— Profll  of  the  Traile— Numbern  brorxht  over— Fiutlisb 
Low  upon  the  Huljict  of  ^<iavery  ;  liilroducliou  of  While  Apprentices,  ur  "  RiHleinplluncra," SS3 

THK    AMF.ISICAN    IIEVOLLTIO."*. 

onAPTr.R  I. 
GeDcral  Rlltlilnof  Colonlct;  Farly  Cauneiiuf  Ci'in;>lnliit  in  Amerlrn;  Arbitrary  CuMnni  Lnwt;  Illrcal 
C'oIHllirt  of  Eii?li«h  I  )lllcialii ;  AeH  in  IleKUlnlioii  lA  Trade;  IvxpeMwwuf  thu  Ijiln  Wur*  in  Anier- 
icu;  till' "  t;u(;ur-act ;"  Uppoalliun  and  Itenioniitruiiceiii  the  Colonlva, 8S7 


!  * 


CONTENTS. 


11 


iiiino 

.... 

103 

Kx. 

>rnui 

illCV, 

m 

aliMl 

itlBII 

lojal 

until 

.... 

509 

:i>y«l 

*on ; 

-Cho 

• ..  • 

ail 

pr  of 

•«i— 

r  ihi) 

.... 

S2S 

ndor 

.(VH 

.... 

910 

ilr" 

ry- 

ili«b 

•  *>  • 

233 

OKlU 

miT- 

.... 

227 

riiArTEii  II.                                                                 TAai 
fbii  Hlamp  Act— ArKnmnnt  In  Ihn  MniiMi nf  Oiiiiiiiiciiiii— Piu>«K«  "'  Ihn  1)111— lU  KIAk-I  In  Ihn  Cnfcinlft ; 
Ili'Kiliilluiia  In  tliu  VirHliilit  Aaniimliljr ;  I'lilrick  llunry  ;  PriiciHiilInu*  In  MiuwucIiiikUii— l'i>|iilliir 
Tuniiiliit— llualgnttUin  of  Ilia  Hluiiip  <  )fl1tii'r<, ICK) 

ouArran  iii. 

8(>Mlim  of  111"  •'"'ft  Amrrlrnn  CiiiiuruM— MiKlurntn  Thihi  cif  ll«  Pnicci'illnKii— Cdnciirroncii  of  Ihn  Hc|i- 
uruli'  iNiiiiiilca;  tliii  Htiiiii|i  Act  Niiuiilury  ;  llix  KiikIIsIi  Miiililry  ;  Dcbulu  In  I'urliiiiiii'iit ;  rt|iiM'cli 
ufPUl)  Kxiiinliwtlun  uf  Frniiklln ;  U«|Hml  ol' llm  HlHin|i  Act, XI4 

OIIAPrlH   IT. 

Inti'rval  of  Quiet  i  Nmw  Taxm  on  lin|iortnllona  ;  Non-iinportatlon  A|iri'vni<tnl ;  Clrculnruf  MiiwiikIhi- 
•I'lli;  Itlol'i  »t  lliiDloii ;  AaMMnlilli'ii  HmMilviil ;  Trii<i|ia  Oiilm-il  In  IIimIihi  ;  Mi'iiniirxn  of  Ihn  lli'iliali 
liov«rnin<^iil ;   Kalul  Kiicoun  ur  bvlwt't>n   Ihu  TriMi|ia  nnd   Pi>|iiilaco  at  lloatnii ;  ('oiici'inloiia  of 

Purliuinuiiti "^ 

OUAPrSH  7. 

Pnrly  f<pirlt  In  Ihu  Coliinlva ;  V  IiIk  anil  Tory  ;  tin-  Ucxnlalort  of  North  Cnrolinn;  llnlchhiaon,  (iov- 
iTiKiror  ,Mii«''iit'liu»-lla;  |i  alrnclioii  of  Ihi' (iimpi'i- ;  fjnliMii  of  INiliiU-nl  (lonunnnlcnllon  Iii'Iwihiii 
Ihu  i'liliinloa ;  Ti'U  illiiprichoil  In  Ainnrini  liy  Ihn  Ki|.<l  liiilhi  ruinpiiiiy  ;  Kcfimul  of  lh«  Colonlala  tu 
Kticulvu  II ;  Violuiit  PrucuvUliiKS  at  Uoatun— i.'luauru  uf  Ihu  Purl ;  Kxluiialun  uf  Ciinudu, 1243 

ORAPTKH   Tl, 

UnKc,  (lovi'rnor  of  Maaarchiiaetta— Milllnry  Prcpjiriillotia— Minnlo-mfin  ;  niatntaa  In  llnalon— Hympa- 
thy  uf  iilhi'r  Towiia;  C'l.nvt'litiiin  Piopoai'il  hy  VirkCiiiiii  — DiieKUUm  C'huauii  hy  thu  Oilnnlra;  Ihu 
I'ulitllH'iilal  Ouligri'it — Kuuulutluiii  wi<l  Ui'Clurulion  Adopti'd;  Viulunl  Meaaiirua  uf  Pttillaniuut,.      '.'IR 

niAl'TKli    VII. 

Wnrliku  Prpparnllona  in  MiiaaiirhiiKutIa;  Tnxipa  (llapiitirhe<l  to  SvW.e  MilltRry  f^torra;  rir>t  II'ihkI 
HIird  at  lA'»'"i(tiiii;  OjnuHlroua  Iti'Irriit  of  Ihu  llrltiah  tu  lloalon ;  PmcuiMlliiKa  in  Ihu  Nt'lKhhoiirliiK 
ColiiMii'a ;  Ih'aliin  llcali'Ki'il  hy  llm  I'roviiiciuin;  C'oncurrrncu  of  thu  Hoiilhi'rn  Ciilonti'a;  Hi'coiiil 
bvaaiun  of  CoriKruaa;  Appuintiuunt  of  Oltleuia;  Sui/iiu  of  Crown  Point  and  Ticondurugn, <.MQ 

(•llAriBK   VIII. 

Oiiiillilon  of  Ihu  nritlah  Army  in  Hoitoii ;  llultlu  of  llnnkor  lllll;  WimhiiiKton  at  Ihn  Ciinip;  Con- 
Itri'talciiial  Procuediiixa ;  thu  liidiun  Trihia;  Joaopli  llraiit;  Military  Prc|iuratiiiha  In  the  .icpnrato 
Coluiiiva, iiba 

CM  API  Kll     IX. 

Vacllliilinn  Policy  of  Rnglnnd ;  Provlniona  by  Cniinnaa  for  Currylni;  on  the  War ;  Num.!  npuratlona  j 
Kx|iimII1Ioii  HKHinat  (.'aiiitilu  ;  Hli^uii  of  I'lirt  !*l,  .luhn  ;  Allvn'a  Atloiiipt  upon  Monticiil ;  lliu  City  (It- 
cupiiHl  by  Moiilguniury  ;  March  lowurda  Uiicbm-, 357 

CllAPTlCK    X. 

Arnold's  Kxpodltlon  n«i«lii»t  Clnehi'c— Pumhhi'  of  thi>  Wildorni'aii— Fiiihiru  of  Provisions- fh'fi'fllon 
of  l-;iioa,  with  hia  (Jomniiind— .\rriviii  iit  lliu  Caiiiiiliitii  ^*l'ltll'ml'nta—Procllllnlaioila— Arnold  at  Iho 
IIcIkIiIs  of  Abraham-  LTiiion  witii  Monlmiini-ry— Attack  on  Ucicbcc— Ueiilh  of  Montgomury— Mor 
guii'a  Killu  t'orpa — American  Forcua  drawn  oil', SCO 

CHArrB-R    XI. 

Warlike  Preparatlont  In  England;  (lormiii  Miirccnitrlfa ;  Proceeding*  of  Cungreai— Enllatmunta— 
Issue  of  Hills— Uvfi'iicea  In  New  Vork  ;  Condition  of  thu  llrillsh  in  Buaton ;  Uccu|ialion  of  Uur- 
clu-aler  HciKhta ;  Evacuation  of  the  City;  Hopkins'  Cruise  iiniung  the  Bahaniaa  ;  AfTuira  at  the 
South;  Attack  upon  Uharleitun  (  Rulruut  of  thu  American  Tiuupa  from  Canada, S63 

cnArricH   iii. 
tilate  nf  Feeling  In  (he  Cidimiea ;  Painu't  WrItiiiKs  ;  Dclmtca  In  Ckmgroa* ;  the  Declaration  of  Indn- 
IK'iidi'iicu— ita  EOi'ct  u|>on  thu  Puu)ile ;  thu  llriliah  at  Slatun  lalaiid  ;  Proclainatiun  of  General  and 
of  Admiral  Howe, SIP 

CHAPTEH    XIII. 

Landing  of  the  Britiih  on  lAing  Island  ;  lliiltle  of  llrooklyn ;  thn  American  Furdea  Drivpn  from  Ixing 
Island ;  Occupation  of  Nhw  York  hy  Ihe  llriliah  ;  VVnahlnston'a  Encampment  at  Harlem  Helghta— 
at  While  Plains;  Hlurming  of  Fort  Washington ;  the  Kelreat  through  New  Jersey;  Capture  of 
(ipiieral  l.t>e;  (Condition  of  Priaoiiera;  l.tike  Chnmplnin— Deatructiun  of  Ihn  American  Vuaaela; 
Ueiieroelty  of  (^leUm ;  Kho<lu  lalund  Beibd  by  Iho  Uritlah, ino 


12 


CONTENTS. 


CHASTER   ZIV.  VMS 

OongreM  at  Baltimore;  Army  Organization;  Powers  Conferred  upon  Washington;  Paaaage  of  iho 
Delaware,  and  Recovery  of  Trenton ;  Uattle  of  Princeton ;  End  of  the  Campaign ;  Marauding  Pur- 
Ilea ;  Negotiation  with  Eiiropeau  Powers ;  Foreign  OQluers  iu  the  American  Service, i^  | 

OBAPTBR  XV. 

Expeditions  against  Peekskill  and  Danbury ;  British  Plan  of  Campaign ;  Howe's  Departure  from  Now 
York;  Biirgoyne's  Army— his  Proclamation ;  Hiege  of  Tlcoiiderogu ;  Retreat  of  St.  Clair ;  Dnrgoyne 
on  the  Hudson;  Siege  of  Fort  Schuyler;  Bnttio  of  Buunington;  Indion  Warfare, j-g 

OBAPTSB    XVI. 

Battles  at  Behmtis' Heights;  Burgoyne's  Retreat  to  Saratoga— Ms  Surrender;  Detention  of  Priaoners; 
Kxpedition  from  Now  York  up  the  Hudson;  Howe's  March  upon  Philadelphia;  Battle  at  Brniuly- 
wine  Creek;  British  Occupation  of  Philadelphia;  Battle  of  Gcrmantowr. ;  Reduction  of  Forts  .Mif. 
Din  and  Mercer ;  Winter-quarters  at  Valley  Forge, <j^l 

CHiPTKR    XVH. 

Difllcultios  of  Congress ;  Articles  of  Confederation ;  Rcci::  imendations  to  the  States ;  Intrigues  aguiiist 
WB8hingU>n;  Treaties  with  France;  Britibh  Commissioners  in  America;  Evacuation  of  Philadel- 
phia; Buttle  of  Monmouth ;  Arrival  of  a  French  Fleet;  Attempt  oc  Newport;  Winter-quarlcrs ; 
Marauding  Expeditions;  Destruction  of  Wyoming, 2^5 

OHAPTKH   XVIII. 

Invasion  of  Georgia ;  Occupation  of  Savannah  ;  Ilritish  Division  under  Prevost ;  Lincoln  In  Command 
at  thn  South;  Defeat  of  Ashe  at  Briar  Cre<<k  ;  Attack  on  Charleston;  Sullivan's  Campaign  against 
the  Iroquois;  Naval  Dperiitiona  of  Kriinceand  England;  Attempt  at  a  Recovery  of  Suvannali;  Fur- 
ther Naval  Proceedings — Paul  Jones ;  Condition  of  the  American  Army, -jgg 

OHAPTIR  xiz. 
Siege  of  Charleston— Surrender  of  the  City;  South  Carolina  Occupied  by  the  British  ;  Turleton's  Le- 
gion— his  Victory  at  VVaxhiiws;  Coriiwallis  In  Command;  Defeat  of  the  Americans  at  OiumiIimi- 
Guerilla  Operations  of  Sumptcr  and  Mariim ;  luvaslim  of  North  Carolina;  Ferguson's  Delout  at 
King's  Mountiiiii, ijyj 

OBAPTSB   zz. 
Noilhern  Oporallins ;  Sprincfleld  Burned  ;  Arrival  of  the  French  Fleet  and  Forces— Blockiide  al  New- 
purl;  TrcHSoM  of  Arnold  ;  Trial  and  Execution  of  Major  Andr*;  Causes  of  Arnold's  Delection;  In- 
dian Ravages— Invasion  of  the  Mohawk  Valley  by  Johnson  and  Brant, ciij;^ 

OHAPiKK    XXI. 

Uovoll  of  the  Pennsylvania  TriK)p»;  Arnold's  Expedition  into  Virginia;  Greene  In  Command  of  tlie 
Southern  Army ;  Morgan's  Detachment— llatlie  of  Cowpcns— Pursuit  of  Morgan  by  Cornwuliis— 
Passaife  of  llii'  L'al«wl)a— Uitreat  into  Virginia— Uullie  of  (iuiltoni  Cunt-house;  (Jreme's  .March 
Into  f^iiulh  l.'arolinu;  Cornwallis  in  Virginia;  Buttle  at  Hiibkirk's  lliii ;  Seizure  of  British  Furls  by 
Marion  and  Ece, 301 

CHAPTBH    ZXII 

War  between  England  ond  Holland;  Seizure  and  Plunder  of  St.  E'lslatins;  the  Arnu'd  Niiilralily; 
Recovery  of  VVei-l  Florida  l)y  Spain  ;  Ciintiiienlul  Curri'iicy  ;  Plan  for  tiie  Recovery  of  Niw  Vuik; 
Virginia  Ravn^cd  by  Phiilips  and  Cornwallis ;  Eiicanipments  at  Yorklown  and  Gloiuv.^ier  I'olni; 
Wnshiiigton's  .Maich  Soiilliwaid  ;  Attack  on  New  London  and  Groton ;  Campaign  in  Suulh  Cam- 
Una;  Battle  near  Eutnw  Springs, 31,5 

OHAPTSR   ZXIII. 
French  Fleet  in  the  Chesopenke ;  Siege  of  Yorktown;  Surrender  of  Cornwallis;  Wiii(ei.(|iiaiter«; 
PniceiHlings  in  the  Englivh  Pariiument;  Negotialiiuis  Ut  Peace;  Terms  of  Treuiy  ;  t'essiilinii  if 
Hostilities;  Disatfection   in  the  Continental  .^rmy  ;   Evacuation  of  New  York;  Position  of  llie 
United  States, .' 305 

THE    UNITED   STATES. 

ClIAlJKIl    I. 

Position  of  the  (Tnlon  at  the  ("imcbision  of  Pence  ;  Existing  D:fnculties  with  Great  Britain  ;  Weakness 
of  Congress  ;  Lmal  Di»luil)uiiC4(«  — Shaj's  Rebellion  ;  Convention  for  Enlarging  CoiiKiehsioia!  Pow- 
•™— OpIM'Sing  Inteieft*  of  the  Slnlen  i  the  Present  Cmstitnlion— Federal  l.egislaliire--P(iwi  rs  of 
Congreits—Ristrietions— Limit  ol  Siale  Powers-the  Executive— the  Judiciary— Miiinu.  (iiiaiaiilies 
— Amendments, ,..,,,.,,.,,,,,.., 3)3 


Naval  Afliiirs- 

Ihe III e.k  V\ 

of  Hriilvew 

— Uustructi 

|if 


CONTENTS. 


13 


OBAPTIR   II.  VJlOM 

RatiSeation  of  the  ConttUtittun  by  the  State* ;  Washington  Elected  Preaideiit ;  the  First  Congress — 
Pruvislons  fur  Kevenue — Furmatiun  u(  a  Cabinet— Puw»r  uf  Kemuvnl  frum  Office ;  Waaliiiigtuii's 
Tuur  thruiigh  Nuw  Kngiunil ;  E<ecun(l  Sesaiuii  ut  Congress— Debate  respecting  the  Public  Debt — 
Foreign  Liabililie*— Public  CertiBcates- Assumption  of  Btate  Debts— the  Public  Debt  Funded— 
MiscuilaueouB  Unactmeiits ;  Constitution  Ratified  by  Khode  Island, 319 

CUAPTEER    III. 

Indian  Negotiations — the  Creeks— the  North-western  Trib**s ;  llarinur's  UnsuccessfVil  Campaign ;  Third 
tflession  of  Congress— the  Excise  Law— a  National  Bunl( ;  sieiliement  of  Kontucl(y — its  Admission 
to  the  Union  ;  Admission  of  Vermont ;  Bile  of  the  Federal  Ciipilol ;  the  North-western  Indians— St. 
Clair's  Kxpoditiuu— his  Disastrous  Defeat ;  Political  Parties ;  the  Census, 3'-!3 

CBAPTKa    IT. 

Washington's  Second  Term— bis  Dislnclhiation  to  Ulllcc;  the  French  Revolution- its  Political  Influ- 
ence in  tlie  United  Slates;  Arrival  of  Genet,  as  Slinisler  of  the  French  Republic — his  Proceedings 
at  Charleston ;  Neutral  Position  of  the  United  States ;  Commercial  Restrictions  by  France  and  Eng- 
land; Impressment  of  American  Seamen ;  Retirement  of  Jefferson ;  Algerine  Dopredatioue, 3i7 

CUAPTEU   V. 

American  Politics;  Debate  in  Congress  upon  Foreign  Relations;  Further  Aggressions  of  England: 
Commission  of  Jay  as  Ambassador  Extraordinary  to  Creut  Uritnin;  Relief  of  Immigrants  from  SI. 
DominKo;  the  Neutrality  Laws;  Resistance  to  the  Excise- Rebellion  in  Western  Pennsylvania- 
lis  Furcible  Suppression- Optuious  of  the  Republican  Party, 331 

OlIAPTKft  VI.  / 

Oneral  Wayne's  Campaign  against  the  North-weKtcrn  Indians;  Defeat  of  the  Confederate  Tribes  at 
the  Miami  Rapids;  Niituraiization  Laws;  tiie  Uemocrutic  Ciu' ■"  Iluniilton's  Resignation;  the 
British  Treaty- its  Ratitlcallou— Popular  Indignation ;  Randolp'  N  hesignation, 33j 

OHAPTEB   VII. 

Indian  Treaty  at  Fort  Greenville ;  Treaties  with  Algiers  and  Spain— the  Mississippi  Opened  to  Amer- 
can  Trade;  Debate  in  Congress  upon  Jay's  Ilritiah  Treaty;  Ti'nnessee  Admitted  into  tlie  Union; 
Trench  Proceedings  in  Respect  to  tiie  Treaty;  American  Ministers  to  France;  Washington's  Re- 
tirement from  Office — Slanders  upon  bis  Character ;  John  Adams  Elected  President, 339 

OHAPTSa    VITI. 

Treatment  of  United  States'  Ambassadors  in  France;  Hostile  Preparations  in  America;  New  Eni- 
ba!ay— Refusal  of  the  Directory  to  Receive  the  American  Ministers;  Negotiations  with  Talleyrand; 
Exlravagant  Demands  and  Injurious  Decrees ot  Ihe  Directory ;  Return  of  the  Ambassadors ;  Action 
of  Congress — Military  Preparations- Alien  and  Sedition  Laws— Land-tax,  etc., 341 

CUAPTER    IX. 

raciflc  Movements  in  France;  Mi8si<jn  of  .Murray;  Naval  r.ngagemenls ;  Denlh  of  Washington;  Na- 
poleon First  Consul;  Treaty  with  Franco;  First  Session  of  Cont;res8  nt  WashinKlon ;  Prenideiitial 
Election— Jefferson  I'resiili'Ot,  and  Hurt  Vici-presidcnt ;  Parly  Removal  from  Office;  Economical 
Reforms;  Ohio  Admitted  into  the  Union ;  Transfer  of  Louisiana  to  the  United  States, 345 

CHAPTEIl    X. 

American  Fleet  In  Ihe  Mediterranean;  Expcdilioii  of  Eiiton  and  Unmet  against  Tripoli;  Treaty  con- 
cluded; Jilfirson's  Reelection;  Hun's  Duel  Willi  Hamilton— his  We.-lern  Enterprise— his  Trial,...  34!) 

CHAITEB    X!. 

Eiiclinh  .Affgrewions;  Failure  of  Negolialimi;  Allsck  cm  the  Frisrale  Chesapeake;  Embiireo;  Non- 
iDteroMirse  Act ;  Abolition  of  the  ."iliivetrade  ;  Jidin  RMiidoipli ;  West  Floridii;  Concessions  of 
Naiioli'oii ;  Itrilish  Cruisers— Ihe  Lillle  Iti  ll;  Tciuniseh— I■:l^kwl\lawn— lliillleof  Tippecanoe  ;  East 
Florida  I  Deeliiriaion  of  War, S.',;; 

ClIArTLH     SII. 

liiiits  at  Ilallimore ;  Hull's  Invasion  of  Caniiil:i :  Repi'al  of  the  Orders  in  Council— Impressment ;  Na- 
val Opiraiimis  ;  Mmlisoii's  Rei-iii-iioii ;  Norlli-we.-lern  Campaign— Defeiit  of  Winchester;  Attack 
on  York  ;  the  llritish  on  I..uke  Champliiin, 3C0 

CH4PTHIS  siii. 
N«v:d  Affairs— Perry's  Victory  on  Lake  Erie;  llarrifun's  Ciiniidian  CnmpaiBii;  llieNingarn  Frontier; 
llieCiri'k  War— J.iciisiii'.<  I'tiiiipniun  ;  Ni  L'oli;illoiis  fur  IViu'e  ;  llrnwri's  iiivnsicin  oD'aiiailii— lliittio 
of  MridKewatir ;  (leciipuiKin  of  ilic  Clics.ipe.ilie— lliitile  of  lllucieiioburgli -Seizure  of  Washington 
— Uealruction  of  Public  Uulidings— .Mlack  on  Ilnltiniore, 30IJ 


hi 


hi 

II 


u 


C'.i.NTKNTS. 


(Ml  A  !    :■  KH    XIV 

n|,onillr)ii3  on  Iho  CdusI  of  M;iiiic ;  Alliiok  on  PliillMinruli— lliilll.'  of  Liiko  Clmmpliiln  ;  Niivnl  ^f.*"* 
lairs -l.a(lltc;    NcKi'tiatiDii  ill  (iht'iil  ;    lh«  llMiil'i.rd  Ciiivniitiun  ;   Trculy  (if  I't-ace  ;  JucksiiirB  Do 

fiiiictMif  New  Orleans— llultle  (if  Janiiurj-  H;  Naval  KiiKa^fnienUi, 

oil  Apr  KH    XV. 

War  with  Akicrs;  Tnriff-Nali.uial  Bank;  Mimrdc,  Prosidciit ;  JackBinrs  Senilnulo  Campaign- 
(.V'-oiiui  (if  Kliirida  liy  S|iain  ;  Aihiiissiim  df  .'Mismmii— the  C(inipiiimi8(! ;  Mdnniu's  tfceond  Term- 
Admini,-.lrali'iM  iif  Julin  Qiiiiicy  Adams;  Klceiiim  (if  Andrew  Jaokwin  ;  the  Tariff;  Nnllillculioil 
111  t«oinh  Carolina ;  the  Unlled  i^iuies' Hank;  Indian  Uemovnls;   BliickHawk;   the  Cherokees,.    agi 

CHAPTER    XVI. 

The?emiii(ilo  War;   Early  IlisUiry  of  Iho  Florida  Indians;    War  of  1818;  Indian  Treaty  of  18"^- 

of  It^:)'.';    Refii.sid  of  Ihu  S( \„\va  to  Keinove ;   Duslruclion  of  Dade'a   Detadiinent;    Miliar, 

0|icra(iiiii«  of  «cncial8  i^coll  and  Jcfsiip  ;   Uiisniifriicl.iry  Rcsulls  of  NcKolialion  ;  Kxpdditi.uisof 
C(jl(iin!l8  Taylor  and  Harney  ;  Gradual  Cessation  of  lloHtilities;   Recent  UiOlculllea, ^. 

CHAPTER   XVII. 

Admlni'lralinn  of  Van  Ilincn— Financial  Pics.«iMe— the  Sub-trea.iiiry— Canadian  Revolt— iho  North- 
enMern  Hoinidary— the  Alfair  of  the  Ainislad;  Harrison  and  Tyler— llaiiknipt  Law-Preeinption-- 
tho  Veld  Power- Tariir ;   Adiuisaion  of  Texas, .. 

rHAPTBH    XVm. 

T.'xnsas  a  Spanish  Prnvince— Grant  to  Moses  Aii?liii— Coloiiizalion- Difflenltics  of  Ihe  Settlers- 
Revoliitidii  in  Mexico— Hiislanii-iili — First  Ri'volulionaiy  Movements  in  Texas- iSanta  Anim'sPiea- 
Ideni-y— his  rMirpiiiidii ;  .Scond  Texan  Ciinipiii«n— Siiccesn  of  the  Patriots— Invasion  hy  Sunia 
Anna- Iluttlu  of  San  Jacinto- Independence  Kstablishod, ,.,. 

CHAPTER    SIX. 

Admliu«trntidn  of  .lames  K.  Polk;  Annexation  of  Texas;  the  North-western  Boundary;  Discovery 
and  History  of  Ihe  Terriluiy  of  niiKon;  Vojane  of  Jiiiin  de  Fiica— Discovery  of  the  Cohinihia— 
Trading  Kslahlishmenls — IiMiiiicy  of  Lewis  and  Clarki — Astoria— Destruction  of  the  ToiKjuin- 
War  with  '.'real  Brilain— Boundary  Trealies— Settlement  of  the  Country, '^^^J 

CIIAPTKH    ■KX 

Alt-ration  in  Ihe  Tariff;  Ar((iiisition  of  California— Knrly  History  of  that  Provincc-the  Jesuit  Mis- 
sions in  Ihe  Peniiisiila— the  Doininioans ;  I'pp.-r  California-the  Franciscan  Missionary  Lslahlish- 
nient— the  Jlexican  Revolution— Attempts  at  ColonizHlion, ..- 

rllAl'TKH     SXI. 

Explorntidii  of  New  California  -  Colom-l  Fremont's  Survey  of  Ihe  Houth  Paas-Overlnnd  i:x|i.-ditinn 
of  l-4:i  4-llie  (oeat  Salt  I.nke-K.tiirn  U.mte-Terrilile  Pas.sMite  of  the  Sierra  N(-viida- Captain 
Sutter's  r-eltlement-Sub«-(iuenl  Kxpcdilioim  of  Fremont;   Ihe  (Jold  Discoveries  in  California,....  4[e 

^l!^PTIlR   xxtt 

TheMormims;  Adminislrntidns  of  Zachary  Tayh.r  and  Millard  Fillmore-Admissidn  of  California 
iiitdlhe  rnidii-DeliHte  upon  Ihe  Slavery  Q.iestion-the  ConipromiM^-F.xpeditions  of  Narcwso 
I..ipoz;   PtHlistica;   Franklin  Pierce  Presidi-nt— Japan— llie  Nehnuka  Qiiestitiii, 4.1, 

THE    SANDWICH    L-SLANDS. 
Historical  Sketch  of, ™, 


I 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


VOLUME  II. 

BiTiMOK  Vhw  or  Um  Oyital  Palaee,  New  York— ProDtlipieoe S 

Fligi  of  Vvloua  Natlona,  approprialeljr  oolored 19,18 

Portrtit  of  dpUlnJuhDDmltb,  the  Founder  or  Viiginia 46 

Portrait  or  Roger  Wllllamt,  the  Founder  uT  Rhode  bland 110 

Emigration  or  Hooker  and  hit  Party  to  llartrord 113 

PortraU  or  King  Philip,  In  hia  Aboriginal  Ooatume '. ISO 

The  SetUen  or  New  England  going  to  Church 151 

Portrait  or  Captain  Bei\|anilu  Church,  the  Indian  Fighter 158 

The  Treaty  onVllllam  Penn  with  the  Indiana 183 

William  Penn,  the  Founder  or  Pennsylvania 190 

ScUleninthe  Forest SS3 

Group  or  English  Statesmen— embracing  Portraila  or  George  III.,  Lord  North,  the  Earl  or  Chatham, 

Marquis  or  Rocklntcham,  and  Lord  Bute 930 

Groop  or  American  Statesmen— embraoing  Portraits  or  Bei\Jamln  Franklin,  Patrick  Henry,  Samuel 

Adams,  John  Hancock,  James  Otis,  and  Gouverneur  Morris 831 

Congress  (Independence)  Hall,  Philadelphia S47 

Faneull  Hall,  Boston 847 

Defenoe  or  the  Redoubt  at  BunkerHlll 854 

Pull-iength  Portrait  or  Joseph  Brant  (Thayendanegea) 356 

View  or  the  Highlands  on  the  Hudson 871 

The  Encampment  at  Valley  Purge 886 

Engagement  or  the  French  Fleet,  under  D'Estaing,  and  the  Briilah  Fleet,  under  Byron 899 

Hngagcment  between  the  Bon  Homme  Richard  and  the  Serapis 394 

The  Capture  or  M^jor  Andre 899 

The  Battle  or  the  Cowpens 303 

Equestrian  Portrait  or  LonI  Comwallis 311 

Full-length  Piirtralt  uf  Rftd  Jacket,  the  Famous  Seneca  Chler 3S7 

Portrait  of  George  Washington,  First  President  or  the  United  States 333 

Portrait  or  John  Adams,  Second  President  or  the  United  States 343 

Portrait  or  Thomas  JeOSarson,  Third  President  or  the  United  States 3.'iO 

Portrait  or  Jsmes  Madison,  Fourth  President  of  the  United  States 359 

Thenallleor  Uke  Erie 367 

Portrait  or  the  Culobroted  Indian  Chler  Tecumseh,  in  (a\\  Costume 370 

Rqueittrinn  Portrait  iir  General  Andrew  Jackson 379 

TheCspltol  at  Washington 375 

The  Smithsonian  Institute,  Washington  City 375 

Portrait  nf  Jsmes  Monroe,  Fiflb  President  ur  the  United  Slates 389 

Ynt    !v -"tn 


'«?*i 


m 


M 


,    ft] 

ilikiii;; 


f'w? 


16 


ILLUSTRATIONS. 


tAQM 

Portnll  of  John  Qalnejr  Adanu,  Sixth  PfMident  of  the  United  8UIM 3^3 

Portrmit  of  Andrew  Jaekeon,  BereDth  Pieeldent  of  the  United  BtUet,  /r**  tA<  lul  painting  tmktn  pn- 

vitn*  f  kit  itamt* jgg 

rortnll  of  Hvtln  Van  Buren,  Eighth  Prealdent  of  the  Unltod  fltalee j,j 

Full-length  Portrait  of  OmcoU,  the  Flurtde  Chief 394 

Group  of  Portrait*  of  American  BUteamen— embraolng  Duilel  Webeter,  John  C.  Otlhoun,  Henry  Clay, 


tndLewU  Oaie 

PortraltorWIlllamH.Hairiion,  Ninth  President  of  the  United  Btalee 

Portrait  of  John  Tyler,  Troth  Prealdent  of  the  United  SUtae 

Portrait  of  Jamaa  K.  Polk,  Eleventh  Preaident  of  the  Uailad  Statea 

View  of  the  Ctly  of  Ban  Franclioo 

OTerland  Emigration,  an  Animated  Scene 

PMa  of  the  Blem  Nerada 

Miaenat  WorkintheOoU-DlggtngaorOallftinila 

Portrait  of  Zachary  Taylor,  TweUlh  Preaident  of  the  United  Btatea 

Portrait  uf  UlUard  Fillmore,  Thirteenth  Prealdent  of  the  United  Blatea 

Portrait  of  Franklin  Pieree,  Fomteenth  Preaident  of  the  United  State* 

Village  of  Kaawaloa,  on  Kealakekua  Bay 

Seal*  or  Coat*  of  Arm*  of  the  Several  SUtea  and  of  the  United  Btatea,  with  Adl  and  particular  de- 

■orlpUoo*  of  the  •IgnlflcaDoe  of  eaeb 431 


3DS 

«M 

407 
410 
41S 
41} 
480 
4S3 
4S8 

4a« 

433 
434 


.■I'lt.*  '  '•■•'.■f  ti-4i  ,«';,.,>■.  1,"  '  ,  '(. 


!•  " 


'  m 


.    t' 


Buenos  Ayres. 


\ 


VenezueJa. 


Mexico. 


AMERICAN  COMMODORE. 


\, 


New  Grenada. 


American  Jack. 


Brazil. 


United  States. 


kM 


'  t 


i    f 


■a:":    (!   f  I'l,  1--7/   ";!';-><;j:   '''r  »!■ 


'  .1  icn 


PART  VI. 


^•^»^'^>^i^^^t^t^^t^'^»^t^^^^^*^^s^^'^^^^^^^^^^^^f^r^fsf^'^^^^^V^r^fS 


THE  ENGLISH  IN  AMERICA, 


.%AA'NAAA^VWW«M^VWWW^^^rwWVWWW^WV^WW^'^^^W^%M 


(farlu  fopgfs  aulr  l^itmsts  at  Colottijatioru 


SEBASTIAN   CABOT;   HIS   YOUTH:   HIS   FIRST  TOTAOB,  AND   DISCOT- 

ERY  OP   NORTH   AMERICA. — HIS  SECOND  VOYAGE,  AND   PUTILB 

ATTEMPT   AT  COLONIZATION.  —  OBSCURE   INTERVAL   IN   HIS 

LIPE. — HE  SERVES  IN  SPAIN. — HIS  EXPEDITION  UNDER 

HENRY  VIII.  —  APPOINTED  GRAND  PILOT  OP  SPAIN. — 

HIS  EXPEDITION  TO  SOUTH  AMERICA. — HIS  RETURN 

TO  ENGLAND,  SERVICES,  OLD  AGE,  AND  DEATH. 


I  ig 


England,  the  first  to  discover  the  American  continent,  was, 
strangely  enough,  the  last  to  plant  her  colonies  on  its  shores.  Be- 
tween a  solitary  brilliant  effort  of  early  enterprise  and  those  late  and 
feeble  endeavours  destined  to  eventuate  in  such  mighty  results,  there 
was  destined  to  intervene  the  barren  interregnum  of  nearly  a  century 
of  torpidity  and  ignorance,  of  imprudence  and  disaster.  The  scanty 
resources  of  her  marine,  and  the  lives  of  her  most  enterprising  dis- 
coverers, for  ages,  were  lavished  in  futile  efforts  to  reach  the  shores 
of  India  by  passing  to  the  north  of  Asia,  or  in  yet  more  hopeless 
attempts  at  the  North-west  Passage.  Afler  briefly  describing  the 
particulars  of  her  first  memorable  achievement,  and  the  unimportant 
movements  in  the  same  direction  by  which  it  was  succeeded,  we  may 
puss,  with  little  interruption,  to  the  tardy  and  unprosperous  beginning 


18 


THE  PEOPLE'S   BOOK  OF  UISTOBY. 


of  an  empire,  whose  rise  and  progress  are  utterly  without  a  parallel 
in  the  history  of  the  world. 

That  achievement,  indeed,  as  in  the  more  remarkable  instance  of 
Columbus,  and  in  that  of  Magellan,  of  Vespucius,  of  Verrazano,  and 
of  Iludson,  was  mainly  due  to  the  genius  and  enterprise  of  one  who 
if  not  of  foreign  birth,  was  of  foreign  origin  and  education,  seeking 
in  a  strange  land,  the  means  of  displaying  his  genius  and  courage 
in  effecting  grand  discoveries.  Sebastian  Cabot,  the  son  of  an  emi- 
nent Venetian  merchant,  was  born  at  Bristol  in  England,  about  the 
year  1477.  Being  removed  to  Venice  at  the  early  age  of  four,  he 
there  received,  for  the  age,  an  excellent  education,  and  became  espe- 
cially imbued  with  the  taste  for  maritime  enterprise.  Returning  to 
England  yet  a  youth,  his  ambition,  like  that  of  others  of  his  family, 
was  strongly  kindled  by  tidings  of  the  grand  discovery  of  Columbus, 
tl»en  the  chief  event  of  the  day.  "By  this  fame  and  report,"  he 
says,  "  there  increased  in  my  heart  a  great  flame  of  desire  to  attempt 
some  notable  thing." 

An  ambition  so  laudable  has  seldom  been  gratified  at  such  an  early 
age;  and  a  more  "notable  thing"  than  the  young  adventurer  proba- 
bly dreamed  of,  was  destined,  while  he  was  yet  a  boy,  to  immortalize 
his  name.  Henry  VII.,  whose  far-sighted  policy  had  looked  with 
immediate  favour  on  the  scheme  of  Columbus,  and  who  had  narrowly 
missed  the  first  claim  to  America,  in  March,  1496,  at  the  instance  of 
John  Cabot,  granted  to  him  and  his  three  sons — Lewis,  Sebastian,  and 
Sancius — a  patent  "to  sail  to  all  j)art8,  countrys,  and  seas,  of  the 
East,  of  the  West,  and  of  the  North,  to  seek  and  find  out  whatsoever 
isles,  countries,  regions,  or  provinces  of  the  heathen  and  infidels, 
whatsoever  they  may  be,  and  in  what  part  of  the  world  soever  they 
be,  whioh  before  this  time  have  been  unknown  to  all  Christians." 
The  main  object  of  this  expedition  was  the  enterprising  attempt,  so 
often  since  repeated,  first  from  ignorance  of  climate  and  geography, 
and  latterly  from  sheer  English  hardihood  and  perseverance,  to  dud 
a  North-west  passage  to  the  shores  of  India.  i 

Sebastian,  though  as  yet  only  a  youth  of  nineteen,  was  entrusted 
with  the  command  of  the  expedition,  which  consisted  of  five  ships, 
and  in  the  spring  of  1497,  accompanied  by  his  father,  took  bis 
departure  trom  the  port  of  Bristol.  After  stopping  at  Iceland,  they 
held  on  to  the  westward,  and  on  the  24th  of  June,  beheld  the  laud 
stretching  before  them,  being  portions  of  the  coasts  of  Labrador  and 
Newfoundland.     Little  exultation  seems  to  have  been  awakened  by 


THE   ENOLISH   IN    AUERIOA. 


10 


thia  momentous  discovery  of  a  continent  "  After  ceytayne  dayes," 
Bftyfl  Sebastian,  "I  found  that  the  land  ranne  toward  the  North, 
which  was  to  mee  a  great  displeasure,  *  *  not  thinking 
to  find  any  other  land  than  Cathay  "  (China).  He  entered,  however, 
it  would  seem,  one  of  the  channels  which  lead  into  Hudson's  Bay, 
and  thought  himself  (like  Hudson,  a  century  later)  fairly  in  the 
desired  truck ;  but  after  keeping  westward  fo^  several  days,  the  crews, 
discouraged  by  the  length  of  the  voyage  and  the  failure  of  provi- 
sion, insisted  on  return.  Compelled  to  yield,  he  put  about,  and  after 
coasting  along  shore  for  some  way  to  the  southward,  made  his  way 
to  England.     Not  long  afterwards,  John  Cabot  expired. 

In  the  spring  of  1498,  Sebastian,  anxious  to  found  a  colony,  took 
with  him  three  hundred  men,  and  again  set  sail  for  the  region  he  had 
discovered.  These  unfortunate  people  he  landed  on  the  blealc  and 
inhospitable  coast  of  Labrador,  that  they  might  form  a  settlement 
there,  and  then  with  the  squadron  renewed  his  search  for  the  North- 
west Passage.  The  particulars  of  this  unsuccessful  attempt  are  not 
recorded;  but  on  his  return  to  the  station,  he  found  that  the  settlers 
had  suffered  miserably  from  cold  and  exposure,  though,  in  that  high 
northern  latitude,  "the  dayes  were  very  longe,  and  in  a  manner 
wlihoui  nyght."  A  lumber  had  already  perished,  and  the  rest, 
refusing  to  remain  any  longer  in  these  inclement  regions,  were  taken 
on  board,  nnd  carried  back  to  England.  In  the  return  voyage,  he 
coasted  along  the  Atlantic  sea-board  of  North  America  as  far  as 
Florida. 

From  this  time  until  the  year  1512,  very  little  is  known  of  the 
career  of  Cabot;  though,  it  is  said,  deprived  of  the  aid  of  the  crown, 
he  fitted  out  vessels  at  his  own  charges,  and  made  "great  discoveries," 
in  a  more  southerly  direction.  In  that  year  we  find  him  employed 
by  Ferdinand  of  Spain,  and,  not  long  after,  a  member  of  the  Council 
of  the  Indies.  He  was  also  entrusted  with  the  command  of  a  fresh 
exp^kion  to  seek  the  Westerly  Passage;  but  this  project  failing, 
froilBe  death  of  his  patron,  in  1516,  he  returned  to  England,  where 
he  \vB  received  with  favour  by  Henry  VIII.  From  that  country 
he  mwie  a  fresh  expedition  to  the  north-west,  attaining  the  sixty- 
seventh  degree  of  north  latitude,  and  making  fresh  surveys  in  Hud- 
son's Bay;  but  from  the  severity  of  the  season,  the  mutinous  dispo- 
sition of  his  crews,  and  the  timidity  of  Sir  Thomas  Pert,  who  com- 
manded under  him,  ("  whose  faint  heart  was  the  cause  that  the  voyage 
look  none  effect,")  was  compelled  to  return  to  England,  his  purposo 


•m 


i 


I 


w 


tup  PKUPLK'S   BOOK  OF  IIIBTORY. 


nnnoooit.  '         .    In  1618,  ktt  #••  Tficalled  to  Spain  by  Charles  V. 
HtlMI  #ti  Uio  thf  <^e  ufthat  cute  '<  /,  uu<i  received  the  hunourablc  and 
rak|M)ODible  apfHuuiuaeiit  of  Chief  IMot 

In  April  of  1526,  he  set  forth,  with  \}\r  ■  ships,  on  a  voyage  to 
tbe  P. '-iflo  by  the  strait  of  Magellan;  but,  through  mutiny  and  ship, 
^r'wk,  bis  project  waa  disn  ncerted,  and  he  devoted  himself  to  inland 
t«^/l"r',>Hon.  FTe  passed  up  'lie  IjU  J^lata  and  the  Paraguay,  and 
during  ir,.  ,>'*wence  of  five  years,  added  "•uterially  to  a  knowledge  of 
the  geograpi.y  of  those  regions,  as  well  as  of  their  natural  wealth 
and  resources.  In  1531,  he  returned  to  Spain,  and  resumed  his 
ofTico  of  Chief  Pihjt,  being  then  fifty-three  years  of  age.  Despite  hia 
many  misfortunes,  his  reputation  as  a  discoverer  and  navigator  was 
great.  "  He  is  so  valiant  a  man,"  says  a  contemporary,  "and  so  well 
practiced  in  all  things  pertaining  to  navigations  and  the  science  of 
cosmographie,  that  at  this  present  he  hath  not  his  like  in  all  Spaine 
insomuch  that  for  his  vertues  he  is  preferred  above  all  other  Pilots 
that  saile  to  the  West  Indies,  who  may  not  passe  thither  without  his 
license,  and  is  therefore  called  Pilote  Maggioro,  (that  is,  Grand  Pilot.)" 
"I. found  him,"  snys  another,  "a  very  gentle  and  courteous  person, 
who  entertained  mee  friendly,  and  showed  mee  many  things,  and 
among  other  a  large  mappe  of  the  world" — at  that  time,  doubtless, 
a  great  curiosity,  and  which  certainly  would  be  none  the  less  such 
now.  The  learned  and  enterprising  seem  to  have  found  delight  in 
his  society,  and  as,  with  increasing  a^|^,  he  gradually  relinquished 
his  more  active  occupations,  a  serene  tranquillity,  relieved  from  mo- 
notony by  the  interest  of  his  o'Aicc,  rewarded  the  more  arduous 
achievements  of  his  youth  and  manhood.  "After  this,"  he  writes, 
"I  made  many  other  voyage.^,  which  I  now  pretermit,  and  waxing 
olde,  I  give  mysi-If  to  rest  from  such  travels,  because  there  are  now 
many  young  and  lustie  pilots  and  mariners  of  good  experience,  by 
•who.^e  forwardness  I  do  njoyee  in  the  fruit  of  my  labors  and  rest  in 
the  tv  irge  of  this  ollice  as  you  see." 

Aged  as  th«'  discoverer  was  when  he  wrote  this  letter,  hi^work 
was  far  from  finished;  the  promotion  of  English  enterpris-   iimi  tiio 
building  lip  ot  a  marine  mightier  tiian  .  o  world  has  ever  s"*;!!,  I  ■  - 
reserveil  us  the  crowning  laurel  of  his  long  and  useful  life.  y^o, 

being  then  seventy  years  old,  he  revisited  iiis  native  country,  where 
he  met  with  much  favour  from  the  young  king,  Edward  VI.  It  has 
been  sau'  hat  he  was  ap{K)intcd  to  the  office  of  Grand  Pilot  of  Eng- 
land— CD  t    '  e    vhiuh,   in   the  unpro.sperou3  condition  of  foreign 


TilK   E  NO  LI  8  II    IN    AMKUICA. 


ai 


commerce,  must,  at  this  time,  have  bccu  .ilmust  a  diiiccure.  IIo  cer* 
tainly  received  a  handaome  penaion.  Ilia  ruputatiun  for  maritime 
skill,  (tts  well  perhaps  as  the  jealous)'  of  the  Spuiiish  court,)  ia 
evinced  in  a  formal  demand  made  by  Charles  V.,  that  "  Snhastian 
Cubote,  Grand  Pilot  of  the  Emperor's  I:  lies,  theu  i..  England,  might 
be  sent  over  to  Spain,  as  a  very  necessary  man  for  the  Emperor, 
whose  servant  he  was  and  had  a  pension  of  him."  This  peremptoi  j 
rOcull  was,  however,  disregarded. 

Ilia  arrival  in  London  gave  a  fresh  stimulus  to  the  almost  decayed 
spirit  of  Tjigli.Ah  enterprise.  The  chief  men  of  that  port,  we  aro 
told,  b^..  i.'i  '  flvt  of  all  to  deal  and  consult  diligently"  with  the  nged 
pi!  ,'r,  and  ly  'is  advice  three  vessels  were  fitted  out  for  an  expedi- 
tion U''  the  north-east.  This  little  squadron,  which  sailed  in  May, 
1553,  uii  Jer  the  command  of  Sir  Hugh  Willoughby,  was  regarded 
with  a  curiosity  which  indicates  the  infancy  of  maritime  enterprise 
in  til''  ration  whose  exploits  in  that  direction  have  since  been  utterly 
unapproachable  by  those  of  any  other.  As  it  floated  down  the 
Thames,  says  old  Ilakluyt,  "being  come  neere  to  Greenwich  (where 
the  court  then  lay)  presently  on  the  news  thereof,  the  courtiers  canio 
running  out,  and  the  common  people  flockt  together,  standing  very 
thick  upon  the  slioare ;  the  privie  counsel],  they  lookt  out  at  the  win- 
dows of  the  court,  and  the  rest  ranne  up  to  the  toppes  of  the  towers." 
This  expfidition  resulted  in  the  destruction  of  Sir  Hugh  and  most 
01  his  people,  who  perished  on  the  dreary  coast  of  Lapland;  but  one 
of  the  vessels,  commanded  by  Richard  Chancellor,  succeeded  in 
pushing  her  way  far  eastward  through  the  Arctic  sens,  and  laid  the 
foundation  of  a  prosperous  commerce  between  England  and  Russia. 

We  find  Cal)ot,  in' extreme  old  age,  still  the  active  patron  of 
English  enterprise  and  commerce;  which,  by  his  vigorous  and  intel- 
ligent direction,  was  gradually  placed  on  a  substantial  and  lucrative 
basis.  A  pleasant  description  of  his  demeanour  is  given  by  one  of 
the  company  of  a  small  vessel,  which,  with  his  friends  (when  eighty 
years  old)  he  visited  ui  Gravosend.  "They  went  on  shore,"  says  the 
narrc'.  t,  "giving  to  our  Inariners  right  liberal  rewards;  and  the  good 
olde  gentleman,  master  Cabota,  gave  to  the  poor  most  liberall  almcs, 
wishing  them  to  pray  for  tlie  good  fortune  and  prosperous  success 
of  the  Search- T/inft,  our  pinesse.  And  then  at  the  signe  of  the 
Christopher,  hee  .tml  his  friends  banketed,  and  made  mee,  and  them 
that  were  in  the  company  great  cheere;  and  so  very  joy  that  he  had 
to  see  the  towaidwoss  of  our  intended  discovery,  he  entered  into  the 


22 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


dance  himselfe,  among  the  rest  of  the  young  and  lusty  company 
which  being  ended,  hee  and  his  friends  departed,  most  gently  com- 
mending M5  to  the  governance  of  Almighty  Ood^  The  most  elaborate 
description  could  hardly  present  a  more  agreeable  picture  of  hale 
cheerfal,  and  benevolent  old  age,  than  is  suggested  by  this  little 
incident,  thus  casually  recorded. 

After  the  accession  of  Mary,  this  aged  and  useful  servant  of  the 
crown  spent  the  brief  remainder  of  his  days  in  neglect  and  obscurity. 
It  mattered  little  to  him,  however,  for  his  work  was  done.  "On  hia 
death-bed,  says  an  eye-witness,  '  he  spake  flightily '  of  a  certain  divine 
revelation  (which  he  might  disclose  to  no  man)  for  the  infallible 
ascertainment  of  the  longitude.  With  his  last  thoughts  thus  amused 
by  visions  so  suited  to  his  mind  and  his  past  life,  the  Discoverer  of 
North  America  died  calmly — it  is  supposed  in  the  city  of  London- 
but  the  date  of  his  death,  and  the  place  where  his  remains  are  laid 
have  long  been  lost  even  to  tradition." 


.  /'       ..     .;;..  Xj     iLiL     dt\     iL       w      Out     J»b         X     Xo 

THE    "DOMINUS    YOBISCUM:"    FAILURE    AND-    MISFORTUNE. — 
IMPROVEMENT    OF    THE    ENGLISH    MARINE. — MARTIN   FRO- 
BISHER:  HIS  VOYAGE  IN  SEARCH  OF  A  NORTH-WEST  PA8SA0B. 
—  DIMINUTIVE   EQUIPMENTS  OF  THE    EARLY    DISCOV- 
ERERS.—  SUPPOSED     DISCOVERY     OF     GOLD     ORE. — 
SECOND   EXPEDITION   OF   FROBISHER. — SURTBT8. 
— CONTEST  WITH  THE  ESQUIMAUX.  —  HIS  IHIR') 
EXPEDITION.  —  ITS   FAILURE. 

The  voyage  of  Cabot,  under  Henry  VIII.,  in  1517,  in  search  of  a 
North-west  Passage,  is  the  only  one  made  by  the  English,  in  that 
din.ction,  for  ten  years,  of  which  any  record  has  survived.  In  1527, 
two  ships,  the  "Dominus  Vobiscum."  ("the  Lord  be  with  you")  and 
another  were  dispatched  by  the  same  sovereign  to  the  northern 
coasts  of  America.  "Divers  cunning  men,"  one  being  a  canon  of 
St.  Paul's,  went  on  this  exj)edition,  which,  however,  one  of  the 
vessels  being  wrecked,  resulted  in  nothing  of  importance.     The  fact, 


:.,,i 1 


r    dpscribii!!?  the  vovn.'^e    ^i^so  fnrvanTAi^A  \\r 


THE  ENGLISH  IN  AMERICA. 


28 


from  the  harbour  of  St.  John's,  Newfoundland,  would  seem  to  indi- 
cate that  some  intercourse  already  existed  with  those  parts — probably 
by  fishing  vessels,  which,  in  emulation  of  the  early  Bretons,  may 
have  resorted  thither. 

Nine  years  afterwards,  (1536,)  another  voyage  was  made  in  the 
same  direction  by  a  company  of  adventurers,  many  of  whom  were 
young  lawyers  from  the  Inns  of  Court,  and  gentlemen  of  good 
family.  They  were  reduced  to  a  wretched  condition,  and  even,  it 
is  said,  resorted  to  cannibalism,  devouring  one  another;  at  last, 
obtaining  by  stratagem,  at  Newfoundland,  a  French  ship,  well  fur- 
nished with  supplies,  they  made  their  way  home,  whither  they  were 
soon  followed  (in  the  ship  they  had  left)  by  the  French  crew,  clam- 
orous for  redress.  It  would  appear,  from  laws  passed  not  long  after 
for  the  protection  of  the  fisheries  at  Newfoundland,  that  this  branch 
of  national  industry  had  already  made  a  fair  beginning;  and  only 
a  few  years  later,  from  thirty  to  fifty  English  vessels,  it  is  said,  came 
annually  to  that  region. 

The  fate  of  Willoughby,  in  seeking  a  north-east  passage,  in  1553, 
and  the  success  of  his  officer.  Chancellor,  in  discovering  a  sea-route 
to  Russia,  and  opening  a  lucrative  commerce  with  that  empire,  have 
already  been  mentioned.  The  English  marine,  under  the  auspices 
of  Cabot,  rapidly  increased  in  extent,  and  the  English  mariners  in 
skill  and  boldness;  and  the  brilliant  reign  of  Elizabeth,  so  fertile  in 
every  department  of  greatness,  was  illustrated  by  numerous  naval 
exploits,  both  in  war  and  attempted  discovery.  The  attention  of 
the  learned  and  enterprising  was  revived  to  the  scheme  of  effecting 
a  North-west  Passage — an  undertaking,  in  the  language  of  Martin 
Frobisher,  "the  only  thing  of  the  world,  yet  left  undone,  whereby  a 
notable  mind  might  become  fortunate  and  famous." 

For  fifteen  years,  that  navigator,  afterwards  so  famous  in  almost 
every  sea,  vainly  sought  the  means  of  pursuing  his  grand  design; 
and  it  was  not  until  1576,  that  by  the  favour  of  the  Earl  of  War- 
wick, he  was  enabled  to  fit  out  a  little  flotilla  of  three  vessels,  the 
larjrest  of  which  was  only  thirty-five  tons,  and  the  smallest  but  ten. 
With  this  slender  equipment,  on  the  19th  of  June,  1576,  he  sailed 
from  Yarmouth  on  his  long-cherished  enterprise.  "In  reviewing  the 
history  of  these  early  expeditions,  the  most  casual  reader  must  be 
struck  with  the  humble  and  insignificant  means  with  which  the  grand- 
est enterprises  wore  attempted  and  often  accomplished.  Columbus, 
amid  the  storms  of  a  most  temnestuous  winter,  made  his  wav  back  to 


\i  lilt 


;^i 


i: 


i.-iC 


..:3 


V'H 


24 


TUE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  H18T0KY. 


Europe,  after  hia  great  discovery,  in  an  open  caravel ;  Hudson,  with 
only  ten  men,  undertook  'to  find  a  passage  to  India  by  way  of  the 
north  pole;'  and  the  good  Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert,  after  voyaging 
safely  to  Newfoundland  in  his  little  Squirrel,  (of  only  ten  tons,)  wtis 
finally  whelmed  in  a  tremendous  gale  beneath  the  'pyramid-like' 
seas  of  the  Atlantic." 

On  the  lltli  of  July,  this  little  squadron  came  to  the  southern 
extremity  of  Greenland,  and,  keeping  to  the  westward,  on  the  18th 
of  August  again  made  land  on  some  part,  it  is  probable,  of  the  coast 
of  Labrador.  Here  the  voyagers  fell  in  with  parties  of  Esquimaux 
who  came  off  to  the  vessels  in  their  seal-skin  boats;  and  five  of  the 
crew,  who  too  rashly  went  ashore  with  them,  were  carried  off,  and 
could  not  be  recovered.  This  land  was  named  by  Frobisher  "Meta 
Incognita."  One  of  hia  little  vessels  was  swallowed  up  by  the  sea, 
anil  another  deserted  him;  yet  he  pressed  on,  and  made  considerable 
surveys  in  those  dreary  regions.  On  his  return  to  England,  certain 
bits  of  glittering  stone  which  he  had  found  there  were  confidently 
pronounced  by  the  English  goldsmiths  to  be  no  other  than  gold  ore. 
The  iinnouncement  of  this  fancied  discovery  of  the  precious  metal 
stimulated  the  nation  to  fresh  enterprise,  and  even  relaxed  the  strings 
of  tlie  royal  purse  (in  general  most  reluctantly  unloosed)  to  a  slight 
disbursement.  With  a  ship  of  an  hundred  and  eighty  tons,  furnished 
by  the  queen,  and  called  the  Ayde  (Aid),  and  with  two  smaller  ves- 
sels, on  the  2Glh  of  May,  1577,  he  again  set  forth  in  quest  of  gold 
mines  and  the  North-west  Passage. 

He  passed  Friesland,  and  thence,  stretching  over  to  Labrador 
sailed  up  the  straits  which  still  bears  his  name,  and  which  he  sup- 
posed to  be  a  cliuniiel  dividing  Asia  and  America,  A  plenty  of  the 
glittering  trasli  which  had  deluded  him  was  found,  and  stowed  aboard 
the  siiip;  and  for  thirty  leagues  he  made  his  way  up  the  strait,  con- 
fidently supposing  that  it  led  to  the  Indian  ocean.  In  some  boats 
of  the  Esquimaux,  various  Euroi)ean  articles  were  found,  probably 
bel<>nf.'ing  to  tiie  mariners  who  had  been  lost  on  the  preceding  voy- 
age. To  recover  these  or  to  revenge  their  death,  he  engugcl  in 
hostilities  with  the  savages,  who  Ibught  with  nmeh  desperation, 
flinging  themselves,  when  inort;dly  wounded,  into  the  sea.  A  num- 
ber of  them  having  been  slain,  the  rest  took  refuge  among  the  cliffs, 
all  the  men  of  tlie  party  making  their  escape.  "Two  women,"  sa)h 
thej(juriial  of  the  voyage,  "not  being  so  apt  to  escape  as  the  men 
were,  tlie  one  being  olde,  the  other  encombred  with  a  yong  cliildo, 


THE  ENGLISH  IN   AMERICA. 


26 


we  tooke.  The  olde  wretch,  whom  divers  of  our  Saylers  supposed 
to  be  eyther  the  Divell  or  a  witch,  had  her  buskins  plucked  off,  to 
see  if  she  were  cloven-footed,  and  for  her  ougly  hewe  and  deformitie, 
we  let  her  goe ;  the  yong  woman  and  the  childe  we  brought  away." 
All  attempts  to  recover  the  lost  mariners  proved  fruitless,  and  on 
the  21st  of  August,  ice  having  begun  to  form  around  the  ships,  Fro- 
bisher  perceived  the  danger  of  attempting  to  remain  or  proceed. 
Accordingly,  he  put  about,  and  with  his  vessels  freighted  with  two 
hundred  tons  of  shining  earth,  returned  to  England. 

Wonderful  to  state,  the  fallacy  of  the  imagined  El  Dorado  was 
not  yet  discovered.  The  ore  was  pronounced  genuine  by  men  of 
science,  and,  as  usual  where  the  thirst  for  gold  is  fairly  awakened, 
men  flocked  in  crowds  to  join  a  fresh  expedition.  Fifteen  ships, 
with  preparations  for  a  settlement,  were  fitted  out,  and,  under  com- 
mand of  Frobisher,  on  the  31st  of  May,  1578,  again  sailed  for  the 
laud  of  imagined  treasure.  After  encountering  much  danger  from 
storms  and  icebergs,  the  fleet  entered  a  great  strait  leading  westward, 
probably  the  chief  entrance  to  Hudson's  Bay.  Finding  that  he  was 
not  in  the  passage  he  had  formerly  entered,  in  the  region  of  imagined 
gold,  Frobisher  put  about;  but  was  so  long  in  getting  to  the  desired 
locality  that  winter  almost  set  in-  before  he  arrived  there;  his  sailors 
and  colonists,  disheartened  by  the  length  of  the  voyage,  clamoured 
for  return;  one  ship,  laden  with  supplies,  deserted;  and,  compelled 
to  abandon  his  plans  for  colonization  and  discovery,  the  admiral, 
freighting  his  ships  with  the  supposed  treasure,  returned  to  England. 
By  this  time,  its  worthlessness  had  been  fairly  discovered;  and 
though  he  eagerly  besought  the  means  at  least  for  continuing  his 
attempts  at  the  North-west  P;issage,  the  public  and  the  crown,  dis- 
couraged by  their  losses  and  misfortunes,  refused  to  lend  him  further 
assistance.  The  remainder  of  his  life  was  passed  in  naval  warfare 
and  adventure,  which  perpetuate  his  name  as  a  bold  leader  and  skil- 
ful navigator.  He  died  in  1G94,  of  a  wound  which  he  received  in 
an  expedition  to  the  French  coast. 


|"*|!'il' 
|i| 


I'lW 


26 


TEE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


uJutiAiJtriLjuitt    iitl* 


BNOLISH  ENTERPRISE. DRAKE. — SIR  HUMPHREY  GILBERT 

HIS  FIRST  ATTEMPT  TO  COLONIZE   AMERICA. SIR  WAL- 

TER  RALEIGH. SIR  HUMPHREY  SAILS  FOR  AMERICA. — 

SHIPWRECKS  AND  MISFORTUNES. THE  RETURN  VOYAGE. 

TEMPESTS. — LOSS  OF  SIR  HUMPHREY  AND  HIS  CREW. 


J 


ExGLAND,  in  the  midst  of  continued  loss  and  misfortune  by  her 
attempts  at  di.scovery,  at  mining,  and  at  colonization  in  the  New 
World,  was  now  fairly  embarked  in  her  grand  career  of  naval  enter- 
prise— the  wealth  and  renown  acquired  by  her  daring  mariners  in 
their  half  chivalrous,  half  piratical  expeditions  against  the  Spaniards 
of  America  serving  to  keep  alive  the  national  interest  in  that  region, 
and  a  knowledge  of  the  Western  Continent  being  incidentally  but 
materially  promoted  by  their  cruises.  At  the  same  time  that  Fro- 
bisher  was  making  his  unsuccessful  voyages  in  search  of  gold  and 
of  thQ  North-west  Passage,  Francis  Drake,  a  mariner  of  similar  and 
yet  greater  renown,  after  his  memorable  passage  of  the  straits  of 
Magellan,  was  engaged  in  a  survey  of  the  western  coast  of  North 
America,  in  the  course  of  which  he  touched  on  the  shores  of  Oregon, 
which  he  named  New  Albion. 

The  example  of  enterpise,  stimulated  by  motives  purer  and  more 
honourable  than  those  of  either,  was  not  long  in  presenting  itself. 
Sir  Humphrey  Gilbert,  a  man  of  high  character  and  amiable  temper, 
both  a  soldier  and  a  civilian,  had  interested  himself  much  in  the  daring 
but  futile  voyages  of  his  countrymen  in  search  of  a  North-west  Pjlss- 
age.  He  had  even  written  a  treatise,  founded  on  the  testimony  and 
opinion  of  "many  learned  men  and  painfull  travellers,"  "to  proovp. 
by  experience  of  sundrie  men's  travels  the  opening  of  some  part  of 
this  North-west  PjKs.sage;  whereby  good  hope  reinaineth  of  the  'est." 
No  words  could  have  phrased  more  effectually  thiit  expectant  longing, 
which  now  for  three  centuries  has  beset  men  of  courage,  of  enter- 
})rise  and  inquiry,  to  solve  the  grand  problem — "the  one  thing  yet 
left  undone  upon  the  earth  whereby  a  notable  mind  might  be  made 
f  irnous  and  fortunate" — of  a  communication  between  the  two  oceans. 
That  terrible  problem.  who«e  final  solution  we  hjive  just  witjics.^pd, 


THE   ENGLISH   IN   AMEBICA. 


27 


will  ever  remain  burdened  with  the  saddest  associations,  both  ancient 
and  modern,  of  heroic  courage  and  indefatigable  perseverance  doomed 
to  repeated  suflfering,  disappointment,  and  destruction. 

In  the  year  1578  he  obtained  from  Elizabeth  a  patent,  conferring 
sole  jurisdiction,  both  civil  and  criminal,  over  a  very  extensive 
territory  in  America,  not  precisely  located,  on  condition  that  he 
should  plant  a  colony  there  within  six  years.  Hi8  half-brother,  the 
famous  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  then  twenty-six  years  of  age,  his  imagin- 
ation fired  by  the  narratives  of  Columbus,  of  Cortes,  and  of  other 
famous  pioneers  of  the  New  World,  also  engaged  in  the  enterprise. 
This  expedition,  delayed  and  weakened  by  various  misfortunes, 
finally  sailed  with  only  two  vessels,  one  of  which  was  captured  by 
the  Spaniards;  the  crew  of  the  other  returned  without  effecting  any 
thing  in  the  way  of  settlement. 

An  interval  of  several  years  elapsed,  during  which  Raleigh  rose 
high  in  the  royal  favour;  and  in  1583,  the  brothers  reijewed  their 
enterprise.  Sir  Humphrey,  in  person,  commanding  the  expedition. 
The  queen,  to  express  her  favour,  at  his  departure  bestowed  on  him 
an  anchor  of  gold,  with  a  great  pearl  set  in  it,  which,  during  the 
remainder  of  his  life,  he  wore,  with  allowable  complacency,  on  hia 
breast.  The  fleet  consisted  of  five  sail,  the  largest  of  which,  the  Raleigh, 
was  furnished  by  the  famous  man  after  whom  it  was  named.  There 
were  two  hundred  and  sixty  men  on  board,  including  mechanics  and 
mineralogists;  and  a  learned  Hungarian,  named  Parmenius,  was  taken 
as  the  chronologer  of  the  expedition.  There  was  also  provided,  says 
one  of  the  commanders,  "Musike  in  great  variety;  not  omitting  the 
least  toyes,  as  Morris-dancers,  hobby-horse,  and  the  like  conceits,  to 
delight  the  savage  people,  whom  we  intended  to  win  by  all  faire 
meanes  possible." 

Soon  after  their  departure,  the  Raleigh,  on  account  of  an  infectious 
disease,  put  back ;  and  Sir  Humphrey,  with  the  remainder  of  the 
fleet,  kept  on  to  Newfoundland.  At  St.  John's  Harbour,  at  that 
island,  he  summoned  the  Spanish  and  Portuguese  fishermen  to  wit- 
ness the  ceremony  of  taking  possession  in  the  name  of  the  English 
soven^ign — an  operation  which  he  performed  by  digging  a  turf,  and 
setting  up  a  pillar,  to  which  the  arms  of  England  were  affixed. 
Silver  ore,  as  it  was  supposed,  was  discovered,  and  was  taken  aboard 
the  vessels,  one  of  which  was  abandoned,  while  with  the  remainder 
Sir  Humphrey  pursued  his  vo^^age  along  the  coast  towards  the  south. 
On  his  way,  the  largest  ship  remaining,  with  the  ore,  was  wrecked. 


ilk/ 


28 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HI8T0KY. 


and  a  hundred  souls  perished,  including  the  Hungarian.  Retura 
was  now  considered  necessary,  and  in  the  midst  of  terrible  storms 
and  tempests,  the  prows  were  turned  homeward.  "Sir  Humphrey 
had  chosen  to  sail  in  a  little  tender,  called  the  Squirrel,  a  mere  cockle- 
shell in  size — '  too  small  to  pass  through  the  ocean  sea  at  that  season 
of  the  year.'  In  vain  did  the  officers  of  the  Hinde,  the  larger  vessel 
entreat  him,  in  this  dangerous  weather,  to  shift  his  flag  aboard  their 
ship.  He  came  on  boar<J,  for  a  convivial  meeting,  but  returned  to 
his  slender  craft,  saying,  *I  will  not  desert  my  little  company,  with 
whom  I  have  passed  so  many  storms  and  perils.' 

"The  weather  grew  heavier  and  heavier;  the  oldest  sailors  de- 
claring that  they  had  never  seen  such  seas — 'breaking  very  high' 
says  a  spectator,  'and  pyramid- wise' — the  very  worst  sea  that  is 
known.  Lights  were  burned  at  night,  and  the  little  Squirrel,  for  a 
long  time,  was  seen  gallantly  contending  with  the  waves,  which 
almost  ingulphed  her.  Once  she  came  so  near  that  they  of  the  Hinde 
could  see  Sir  Humphrey  sitting  by  the  mainmast,  with  a  book  in  his 
hand,  reading.  He  looked  up,  and  cried  cheerily,  'We  are  as  necro 
to  Heaven  by  sea  as  by  land.'  But  the  seas  broke  over  her  more 
heavily;  about  midnight,  all  at  once,  the  lights  were  extinguished- 
and  in  the  morning  nothing  was  seen  of  the  good  Sir  Humphrey  or 
his  little  ship.  She  had  doubtless  been  whelmed  by  the  toppling 
down  of  some  huge  pyramid  of  water.  Such  was  the  melancholy 
but  honourable  end  of  one  of  the  worthiest  and  most  persevering 
patrons  of  English  enterprise.  He  perished  in  the  pursuance  of  his 
own  exalted  maxim:  'That  he  is  not  worthy  to  live  at  all,  who,  for 
fear  or  danger  of  death,  shunneth  his  country's  service  or  his  own 
honor;  for  death  is  inevitable  and  fame  immortal.'"* 

*  Discovercra,  &c.,  of  America. 


THE   ENGLISH   IN  AMERICA.  29 


'  C  n  A  P  T  E  H   X  V  . 

THE    PATENT    OP    RALEIOH! — HE    DISPATCHES    A¥IDA8   AND 
BARLOW    TO    CAROLINA:     THEIR    REPORT. — THE    COUNTRY 
NAMED  VIRGINIA. — YOTAOES  OF  DAVIS,  EtC. — SECOND   EX- 
PEDITION   OP    RALEIOH,   UNDER   LANE. — SETTLEMENT  AT 
ROANOKE. — FOLLY  AND  CRUELTY  OP  THE  ENGLISH. 
— THE    INDIANS.  —  MASSACRE   BY   THE   ENGLISH. 
— FAILURE  AND  RETURN  OF  THE   EXPEDITION. 

Raleigh,  whose  enterprising  spirit  wns  dismayed  neither  by  the 
loss  of  his  brother,  nor  the  wreck  and  failure  of  the  late  expedition, 
immediately  resolved  to  renew  the  attempt,  and  secure  to  himself 
tlie  glory  of  the  first  founder  of  an  English  settlement  in  America. 
To  one  so  high  in  the  queen's  favour,  letters  patent,  of  the  most  liberal 
nature,  were  readily  issued,  granting  him  power  to  colonize,  with 
almost  unlimited  personal  jurisdiction,  "such  remote,  heathen,  and 
barbarous  lands  as  are  not  actually  possessed  by  any  Christians,  or 
inhabited  by  any  Christian  people."  No  particular  region  was  spe- 
cified as  the  subject  of  this  indefinite  grant;  but,  warned  by  the  fate 
of  former  enterprises,  he  had  resolved  to  plant  his  settlement  in  the 
milder  regions  of  the  south.  The  very  year  after  the  loss  of  Sir 
Humphrey,  on  the  27th  of  April,  1584,  he  dispatched  two  vessels, 
well  provided  with  men  and  supplies,  under  two  experienced  cap- 
tains, Amidas  and  Barlow,  to  the  American  coast. 

Taking  the  circuitous  route  of  the  Canaries  and  the  West  Indies, 
(which,  strange  to  say,  for  many  years  was  considered  the  only  prac- 
ticable track,)  after  a  voyage  of  two  months,  they  arrived  off  the 
shores  of  Carolina.  For  more  than  a  hundred  miles  they  sailed 
along  the  coast,  seeking  a  harbour,  and  on  the  13th  of  July,  entered 
Ocracoke  Inlet.  Ilere  they  landed  on  an  island,  delighted  with  the 
softness  of  the  climate  and  the  beauty  of  the  vegetation,  and  took 
formal  possession  of  the  country  in  the  name  of  Elizabeth.  The 
natives,  at  first  shy  and  timid,  proved  gentle  and  friendly,  and  on 
the  island  of  Roanoke  the  vovagers  were  entertained  with  much 
hospitality  at  the«residence  of  the  chief  After  making  some  brief 
survey  of  the  cotvst,  the}'  returned  to  England,  where  the  glowing 
description  which  they  gave  of  the  beauties  of  the  region,  encouraged 


''ft     ViJ 


MK 


80 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF   HISTORY. 


II 


the  projector,  and  revived  fresh  enterprise  in  the  nation.    In  honour 
of  his  patroness,  Raleigh  bestowed  on  the  newly  discovered  region 
the  name  of  Virginia — a  name,  like  that  of  Florida  and  of  Louis- 
iana,  originally  applied  to  a  tract  far  more  extensive  than  even  the 
broad  and  beautiful  state  by  which  it  is  now  borne. 

A  fresh  stimulus,  at  this  time,  was  given  to  the  North-Western  enter- 
prise, and  the  voyages  of  Davis,  in  1585,  6,  7,  though  unsuccessful  in 
accomplishing  their  design,  added  greatly  to  the  geographical  knowl- 
edge of  the  dreary  seas  and  coasts  in  that  direction.  The  voyages  and 
discoveries  of  the  famous  Henry  Hudson,  resulting  in  his  own  de- 
struction, but  in  the  eternal  commemoration  of  his  name,  occurred 
a  few  years  later.    (See  "  The  Dutch  in  America.") 

The  year  after  the  return  of  his  pioneer-vessels,  (1585,)  Raleigh, 
then  in  the  full  tide  of  court  favour  and  increasing  wealth,  fitted  out 
a  fresh  expedition,  of  seven  vessels,  with  an  hundred  and  eight  col- 
onists, under  command  of  Ralph  (afterwards  Sir  Ralph)  Lane,  des- 
tined for  the  shores  of  Carolina.  His  friend,  Sir  Richard  Grenville, 
one  of  the  bravest  and  choicest  spirits  of  the  age,  commanded  the 
fleet,  which,  on  the  9th  of  April,  set  sail  from  Plymouth.  Taking 
the  usual  circuitous  route,  it  passed  through  Ocracoke  Inlet  to  the 
island  of  Roanoke ;  and  Grenville,  with  Lane  and  others,  made  a 
tour  of  exploration.  They  were  well  entertained  by  the  natives 
whom  they  encountered — in  return  for  which,  aa  usual  with  the 
European  adventurers,  provoked  by  slight  injury,  they  took  cruel 
and  indiscriminate  revenge.  "At  Aquascogoe,"  says  Sir  Ralph, 
"the  Indians  stole  a  Silver  Cup,  wherefore  we  burnt  the  towne,  and 
epoyled  their  come,"  <Scc.,  &c.  What  an  exceedingly  low  standard 
of  morality,  of  policy,  of  ci^mmon  decency  even,  do  acts  like  these, 
recorded  a  hundred  times  by  their  authors  with  the  most  naive  un- 
consciousness, exhibit! 

The  settlers,  under  Lane,  left  on  the  island  of  Roanoke,  at  first 
were  all  enjoyment  at  the  serenity  of  the  climate  and  beauty  of  the 
country.  "It  is  the  goodliest  soil,"  says  their  governor,  "under  tiio 
cope  of  heaven;  the  most  pleasing  territory  of  the  world;  tlie  con- 
tinent is  of  a  huge  and  unknown  greatness,  and  well  peopled  and 
towned,  though  savagely."  The  native  culture  of  tobacco,  of  maize, 
and  the  potato,  was  observed  with  much  interest;  an  interest  which 
would  have  been  redoubled,  could  the  visitors  have  foreseen  the  vast 
magnitude  and  imj)ortance  which  the  production  of  these  articles 
was  destined  one  day  to  assume. 


THE    ENGLISH   IN    AMERICA. 


"1 
It  L 


A  more  particular  observation  of  the  Indians  than  had  hiihertr* 
been  made,  was  taken  by  the  colonists,  who  describe  them  as  gener- 
ally a  feeble,  inoffensive  race,  dwelling  in  small  villages,  and  forming 
tribes  of  no  great  separate  importance.  Master  Heriot,  who  espe- 
cially devoted  himself  to  the  subject,  travelled  among  them,  and 
endeavoured  to  indoctrinate  them  with  some  idea  of  Christianity. 
They  manifested  much  reverence  for  the  Bible  which  he  displayed  to 
them,  kissing  it  and  hugging  it  to  their  breasts,  and  doubtles-s  con- 
sidering it  "a  great  medicine."  They  had  a  species  of  belief  in  the 
Divine  Existence  and  the  immortality  of  the  soul ;  and  the  traveller 
tells  a  pleasant  story  of  one  of  them  who  had  been  buried  for  dead, 
but  was  afterwards  exhumed  and  revived.  According  to  the  Indian.s, 
the  recovered  patient  "showed  that  although  his  body  had  laine  dead 
in  the  grave,  yet  his  soule  lived,  and  had  travailed  far  in  a  long 
broad  way,  on  both  sides  whereof  grewe  more  sweete,  fayre,  and 
delicate  trees  and  fruits  than  ever  he  had  scene  before ;  at  length  he 
came  to  the  most  brave  and  fayre  houses,  neere  which  he  met  his 
Father,  that  was  dead  long  agoe,  who  gave  him  charge  to  goe  backo 
to  shew  his  friends  what  good  there  was  to  doe,  to  injoy  the  pleasures 
of  that  place ;  which  when  hee  had  done,  hee  should  come  again." 

Allured  by  fanciful  and  perhaps  misunderstood  tales  concerning 
great  treasures  at  the  source  of  the  Roanoke,  Lane,  with  a  number 
of  his  people,  ascended  its  rapid  stream.  Their  provisions  were 
soon  exhausted,  yet  they  pressed  on,  "seeing  they  had  yet  a  dog, 
that,  being  boyled  with  saxafras  leaves,  would  richly  feede  them  in 
their  return,"  but  accomplished  nothing  of  their  object,  and  returned 
disappointed.  A  most  outrageous  deed  was  presently  perpetrated. 
The  neighboring  Indians,  it  is  said,  jealous  of  the  intrusion  of  the 
strangers,  had  conspired  against  them,  and  Lane,  with  others,  desir- 
ing an  interview  with  King  Wingina,  the  principal  chief  of  that 
region,  treacherously  attacked  and  massacred  him  and  his  attendants. 
In  June,  1586,  the  famous  Sir  Francis  Drake,  with  a  fleet  of  twenty- 
three  ships,  came  to  anchor  off  the  island ;  and,  though  that  cner- 
jictic  commander  did  every  thing  in  his  power  to  encourage  the 
colonists,  and  to  furnish  them  with  all  necessary  supplies,  yet, 
desponding  of  success,  they  desired  to  return  to  their  homes.  Ac 
cordingly,  he  took  them  aboard  his  fleet,  and  carried  them  to  Eng- 
land—the principal  result  of  their  American  sojourn  being  the 
introtluction  to  that  country  of  the  custom  of  smoking  tobacco, 
which  they  had  learned  of  the  Indians. 
Vol  IV.— 31 


Mi.ii: 

n 

■II' 


""I*! 


THE  rEOPLE'S  nOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


LHAPTER    V. 


:.fi 


''■      /",.,•    '.'".ir.it   .;  ■   i.ti  .    ■''   1''    .'■»■■    •'    (■        I'' 
SlfAI.L  SETTLEMENT  PLANTED  BY  ORBNVILLB  AT  ROANOKE  DB- 
8TR0YED  BT^THE  INDIANS. — THIRD  EXPEDITION   OF  RALEIGH. 
—  FIRST   ENGLISH  CHILD  IN  AMERICA-  —  LOSS  AND  SUP- 
POSED    DESTRUCTION     OF    TUE    ROANOKE     COLONY. — 
MISFORTUNES  OF  RALEIOH. — TARDINESS  AND  ILL- 
,       ;.     FORTUNE  OFENQLISH  ENTERPRISE. — REFLECTIONS. 


Only  a  few  days  after  the  hasty  and  ill-advised  departure  of  Lane 
and  hia  people,  a  vessel,  dispatched  by  Raleigh,  with  abundant  sup- 
plies,  arrived  at  the  deserted  settlement;  and  soon  afterwards,  Gren- 
ville,  with  three  more  8hip.s,  also  well  supplied,  came  to  the  same 
place.  He  left  fifteen  men  on  the  island;  but  the  next  comers  founr', 
there  only  the  ruins  of  their  fort  and  dwellings,  amid  which  humua 
bones,  the  evidence  of  Indian  hostility,  lay  bleaching. 

Raleigh,  on  learning  of  the  desertion  of  his  settlement,  with  inde- 
fatig.able  industry,  set  to  work  afresh;  and  in  April,  1587,  dispatched 
another  expedition,  with  especial  provi»?ion  for  the  cultivation  of  the 
land,  and  with  a  number  of  women,  that  the  comforts  of  a  home  might 
be  early  e.'^  >blished.  In  July,  the  fleet  arrived  at  Rv^anoke,  where 
the  sad  evidences  of  the  destruction  of  Grenville's  'nen  were  ob- 
served ;  and,  though  the  projector  had  ordered  that  the  new  settle- 
ment should  be  founded  on  Chesapeake  Bay,  yet,  on  account  of  the 
impatience  of  the  naval  commander,  the  governor,  White,  and  his 
people  disembarked  on  the  island.  Indian  ho.stilities  were  soon 
renewed  in  the  murder  of  one  of  the  settlers — and  the  latter,  attack- 
ing a  party  of  the  natives  by  night,  found  too  late  that  they  belonged 
to  a  friendly  tribe.  On  the  18th  of  August,  l.'i87,  Virginia  Dare, 
the  first  child  l)orn  of  English  parents  in  the  United  States,  was 
ushered  into  a  brief  and  ill-fated  being. 

White,  by  the  urgent  request  of  the  colonists,  consisting,  at  his 
departure,  of  an  hundred  and  eighteen  persons,  of  whom  seventeen 
were  women,  and  two  children,  returned  to  England  in  one  of  the 
vessels,  to  provide  further  supplies.  Rut  the  momentous  events  just 
then  occurring  in  the  equipment  and  defeat  of  the  Spanish  Armada 
retarded  the  desired  assistance;    and   Raleigh,  who  hail  expended 


(ilo  Uaiaiitit 


THE   ENQL8II   IN   AMERICA. 


88 


forty  thousand  pounds  of  liis  estate  in  the  vain  attempt  to  colonize 
Yirginia,  was  compelled  to  relinquish  the  enterprise  to  others — as- 
signing certain  of  his  rights  to  a  company  of  London  merchants. 
Such  delay,  however,  occurred,  in  fitting  out  a  fresh  expedition, 
that  it  was  not  until  1590  that  White  returned  to  lloaiioke;  but  the 
settlers  hau  disappeared;  and  though  Kaleijjh,  it  is  said,  sent  to 
search  for  them  on  five  several  occasions,  no  trace  of  the  fate  of  tliis 
lost  colony  has  ever  been  found.  Probably,  like  the  former,  it 
perished  from^ndian  hostility. 

Strangely  enough,  all  the  efforts  of  one  of  the  most  intelligent, 
wealthy,  and  pcrdcvering  men  of  England  to  effect  a  settlement  in 
America  proved  ineffectual.  Sir  Walter  Raleigh,  besides  liis  re- 
peated efforts  in  behalf  of  Virginian  colonization,  had  aided  the  north- 
west voyages,  destined  to  end  in  results  alike  futile,  and,  in  his  old 
age,  broken  down  by  iinprisunment  and  suffering,  headed  an  equally 
liuitless  expedition  to  the  Orinoco  and  the  tropical  coasts  of  Gui- 
ana, Whatever  his  errors  as  a  courtier  and  a  favourite,  history 
will  do  him  justice  as  a  statesman,  a  soldier,  a  mariner,  a  discoverer, 
aiul  a  founder  of  colonization — tlie  most  brilliant  character  of  a 
remarkable  age;  and  America,  in  especial,  will  always  look  back 
with  reverence  and  affection  on  the  earliest  and  most  persevering 
promoter  of  her  welfare — a  man  whose  faults  were  those  of  the  time, 
wliuse  virtues  were  his  own;  and  who,  in  addition  to  the  shining 
attributes  of  a  head  to  plan  and  a  hand  to  execute,  possessed  the 
more  endearing  quality  of  a  heart  to  feel  and  to  commiserate. 

Such  repeated  loss  and  mortality  had  now  made  men  wary  of 
undertaking  American  colonization.  "All  hopes  of  Virginia  thus 
abandoned,"  says  a  later  adventurer,  "it  lay  dead  and  obscured  from 
1590  to  this  year  1602."  In  March  of  that  year  Bartholomew  Gosnold, 
under  the  advice  of  Raleigh,  tried  the  experiment  of  sailing  directly 
to  America,  instead  of  taking  the  circuitous  route  of  the  Canaries  and 
West  Indies.  Singular  to  relate,  the  experiment  succeeded;  and 
after  a  voyage  of  seven  weeks,  ir  a  small  vessel,  the  navigator  came 
to  Massachusetts.  He  landed  on  Cape  Cod,  and  on  the  Vineyard 
islands,  and  having  freighted  his  little  bark  with  Missafras  obtained 
by  traffic  from  the  Indians,  returned  in  June  to  England.  Enterprise, 
stimulated  by  his  success,  was  renewed,  in  the  diminutive  vessels 
of  the  day,  and  much  of  the  eastern  sea-board  was  surveyed.  Such 
voyages,  familiarizing  navigators  with  the  coast  and  the  most  desira- 
l)le  luc;:ilitios,  prejiarcd  the  way  for  fresh  attrnqils  at  settlcmont. 


I 

HI 


\mi 


?«li#i; 


^^ 


y-A 


TlIK  riCOt'LK'S  BUOK   or  UI8T0KY. 


While  hor  rivals,  long  ere  this  time,  had  succcodeil  in  gaining  a 
l)erinunout  footing  on  the  Hhores  of  the  New  World,  and  had  con- 
quered or  founded  wealthy  empires  in  the  south,  England,  her  claims 
and  her  endeavours  chiefly  confined  to  the  more  barren  and  incle- 
ment regions  of  the  north,  had  as  yet  reaped  nothing  but  loss  and 
misfortune  from  her  enterprise  in  the  New  World.  Not  a  single 
spot  on  that  vast  contiiient  now  mostly  peopled  by  her  children,  was 
the  settled  habitation  of  an  Englishman.  "  In  reviewing  the  history 
of  American  colonization,  the  mind  is  at  first  struck  with  the  won- 
derful brilliancy  and  rapidity  of  Spanish  discovery  *and  conquest 
during  the  first  century  of  their  career;  an  impression  naturally  fol- 
lowed  by  the  reflection  that  in  the  end  no  substantial  advantage  has 
accrued  to  the  nation  whose  enterprise  laid  open  the  pathway  to  the 
New  World,  and  whoso  valour  and  genius  were  the  first  to  avail 
themselves  of  its  tempting  opportunities.  Extermination  of  the 
native  inhabitants,  bigoted  exclusion  of  foreigners,  and,  in  the  end, 
outrageous  oppression  of  her  own  dependencies,  have  marked,  almost 
without  exception,  the  colonial  administration  of  Spain,  and  have 
finally  resulted  in  its  nearly  complete  annihilation.  Her  once  numer- 
ous provinces,  alienated  by  mismanagement  and  tyranny,  have 
found,  in  republican  anarchy,  a  questionable  relief  from  parental 
misrule;  while  that  beautiful  island,  almost  the  solitary  jewel  in  her 
crown,  and  only  proving,  by  its  exception,  the  general  rule  of  her 
losses,  is  held  by  a  tenure  so  insecure  as  hardly  to  deserve  the  name 
of  possession. 

"For  an  hundred  and  ten  years,  the  rival  nations  of  France  and 
England  hardly  took  a  step  in  the  same  direction,  or,  if  they  did, 
under  circumstances  of  such  gross  ignorance  and  infatuation,  as  were 
almost  certain  to  preclude  the  possibility  of  success.  The  various 
and  widely-severed  colonics  of  France,  founded,  through  a  century 
of  misfortunes  and  discouragements,  by  ardent  and  indefatigable 
servants  of  the  crown,  have,  with  one  or  two  insignificant  exceptions, 
clipped  from  her  hands — not  from  any  want  of  loyalty  or  national 
aflcction  in  the  provincial  inhabitants,  but  from  the  feebleness  of 
the  French  marine,  ever  unable  to  compete  with  that  of  her  haughty 
rival,  and  quite  inefficient  for  the  protection  and  retention  of  dis- 
tant colonies. 

"England,  the  last  to  enter  on  the  noble  enterprise  of  peopling 
tbe  New  Ilemisphere,  but  finally  bringing  to  the  task  a  spirit  of 
progress,  a  love  of  freedom,  and  a  strength  of  principle,  unknown  to 


THI   ENGLISH    IN   AMKRIOA. 


85 


her  prcdeccaaora,  htw  found.' I,  amid  disaatrouB  and  unpromising 
begi'inings,  an  empire  mightier  and  more  enduring  than  all  or  any 
of  its  compeers;  lost,  indeed,  for  the  most  part,  to  her  private  aggrand- 
izement, but  not  to  the  honour  of  her  name  or  the  best  interests  of 
mankind;  an  empire  already  prosperous  beyond  all  example  in  his- 
tory, and  destined,  it  is  probable,  at  no  distant  day,  to  unite  under 
its  genial  protection  ever^  league  of  that  vast  continent  stretching 
from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  from  the  tropical  forests  of  Darien 
to  the  eternal  snows  of  the  Arctic  Circle."* 


.•| 


*  Dituoverera,  Ste.,  of  Amerie^ 


i 


THE  SETTLEMENT  OE  VIRGINIA. 


KEMOIR  OP   CAPTAIN  JOHN   SMITH. — HIS    TOUTHPTTL  ADYEII- 
TDRES   AND   SERVICES. — HE  TURNS  HERMIT.  —  HIS   ADVEN- 
TURES   IN    FRANCE. — HE    IS   PLUNO   OVERBOARD. — SEA- 
FIOHT.  —  TRAVELS   IN   IT.\LT. — HIS    CAMPAIGN    AGAINST 
THE     TURKS. — SIEGE     OF     RECALL. — THE    THREE 
TURKS'   HEADS.  —  SMITH   SENT   A   SLAVE  TO   TAR- 
TAR!:   1113  WONDERFUL  ESCAPE. — SUBSEQUENT 
ADVENTURES.  —  RETURNS    TO    ENGLAND. 

No  account  of  American,  and  still  less  of  Virginian  colonization 
would  be  complete  without  some  memoir  of  that  remarkable  man  to 
whose  unwearied  personal  exertions  the  foundation  of  an  English 
commonwealth  in  this  country  is  almost  entirely  due.  Romance 
would  hardly  venture  to  imagine  adventures  more  marvellous,  or 
courage  more  chivalrous  than  his ;  and  when  to  a  temper  the  most 
sprightly,  adventurous,  and  enterj)rising  of  his  day,  were  added  the 
unsurpassed  qualities  of  judgment,  of  perseverance,  of  fortitude,  and 
of  forbearance,  the  result  could  hardly  fail  to  be  a  character  of  no 
ordinary  greatness,  and  the  work  of  his  life  a  work  destined  in  some 
manner  to  affect  the  interests  of  mankind.  Uis  extraordinary 
career,  fortunately  detailed,  in  good  part,  with  modest  quaintness 
by  his  own  pen,  will  ever  remain  the  delight  of  youth,  and  the 
admiration  of  the  historical  reader. 

Captain  John  Smith,  incomi)arably  the  greatest  and  most  famous 
of  English  adventurers  in  America,  was  born  of  a  good  family  at 
AVillougliby,  Lincolnshire,  in  1579.  His  mind,  from  childhood,  set 
on  adventure  and  travel,  at  the  age  of  thirteen,  ho  secretly  sold  his 
books  and  .satchel,  and  was  about  going  off  to  sea,  when  interrupted 
by  the  death  of  hi.s  fatlier.  His  guardians  apprenticed  him  to  a 
merchant  of  Lynn,  whom,  in  consequence  of  refusal  to  gratify  his 


eold,  a  rii 


THE    SETTLEMENT    OF   VIKQINIA. 
f 


o/ 


tiiste  for  the  sea,  he  speedily  quitted,  and  with  his  young  patron,  the 
son  of  Lord  Willoughby,  went  into  France.  Thence  he  repaired  to 
the  Netherlands,  then  engaged  in  their  struggle  against  Spanish 
tyranny ;  and  served  some  three  or  four  years  under  Captain  Dux- 
bury — an  Englishmaa,  commanding,  it  would  seem,  in  the  service 
of  Prince  Maurice.  He  sailed  to  Scotland,  but  was  shipwrecked  at 
Holy  Isle,  and  finding  no  chance  of  preferment  at  the  Scottish  court, 
again  betook  himself  to  Willoughby.  Here,  by  one  of  those  freaks 
common  to  ardent  and  imaginative  youth,  he  chose  to  turn  hermit 
—though  rather  after  the  fashion  of  Friar  Tuck  than  the  recluse  of 
Wark worth.  In  a  great  wood,  far  from  the  town,  he  built  hin  .:lf  a 
shelter  of  boughs,  where,  without  bedding,  or  any  of  the  conveni- 
ences of  civilized  life,  he  made  his  abode.  In  the  curt  language  of 
his  narrative,  (which,  like  Caesar's,  runs  in  the  third  person,)  "His 
studie  was  Machiavills  Art  of  Warre,  and  Marcus  Aurelius;  his  exer- 
cise a  good  horse,  with  his  lance  and  ring;  his  food  was  thought  to  he 
more  of  venison  than  anything  else;  *  *  *  Long  these  pleasures 
could  not  content  him,  but  hee  returned  againe  to  the  Low  Coun- 
tries"— intending  to  make  his  way  to  the  east  of  Germany,  then 
distracted  with  Turkish  warfare,  and  fight  on  the  side  of  Christen- 
dom.    At  this  time  he  was  only  nineteen. 

Taking  ship  for  France,  he  was  despoiled  of  all  his  baggage  by 
four  sharpers,  and,  selling  his  cloak  to  pay  for  his  passage,  landing 
in  Picardy,  went  in  pursuit  of  them.  Reduced  to  great  distress  and 
poverty,  "wandering  from  port  to  port  to  finde  some  man  of  warre, 
ho  spent  that  he  had,  and  in  a  Forest,  neere  dead  with  griefe  and 
cold,  a  rich  Farmer  found  him  by  a  faire  Fouutaine  under  a  tree. 
This  kinde  Pesant  releeved  him  againe,  to  his  content."  Not  long 
alter,  passing  through  a  forest,  he  fell  in  with  Cursell,  one  of  his 
despoilcrs.  "His  piercing  injuries  had  so  small  patience,  as  without 
any  word  tliey  both  drew,  and  in  a  short  time  Cursell  fell  to  the 
ground,  when  from  an  old  ruinated  Tower  the  inhabitants  seeing 
tlieni,  were  sutisliod,  when  they  heard  Cursell  confesse  what  had 
formerly  })assed."  Wc  next  find  the  youthful  adventurer  enjoying 
tlie  hospitality  of  a  noble  earl  (who  had  known  him  in  England)  at 
his  eliutc.m  in  Brittany;  whence,  apparently  better  supplied,  he 
travelled  over  much  of  France,  surveying  fortresses  and  other  nota- 
ble objects  orexauiiiiation. 

At  Marseilles,  by  ill-lbrtune,  he  embarked  on  board  a  vessel 
fivii^hted  with    "a  route  of  pilgrims,  of  divers  nations,"  going  to 


\i 


h.j/' 


*# 


U 


W9w 


38 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


Home,  and  put  to  sea.  Compelled  by  tempests,  the  ship  anchored 
under  the  Isle  of  St.  Mary,  off  Nice,  where  the  "inhumane  Provin- 
cialls,"  concluding  that  Smith,  in  his  double  capacity  of  Englishman 
and  heretic,  was  their  Jonah,  set  upon  him,  "hourely  cursing  him" 
he  tells  us,  "not  onely  for  a  Iluguenoit,  but  his  Nation  the}-  swore 
wore  all  Pyrats,  and  so  vildly  railed  on  his  dread  sovereigne,  Queene 
Elizabeth,  and  that  they  never  should  have  faire  weather  as  long  as 
hee  was  aboard  them ;  their  disputations  grew  to  that  passion  "  (stim- 
ulated, perhaj)s,  by  the  liberal  use  of  a  staff,  with  which  the  gallant 
Captain  requited  their  assaults)  "that  they  threw  him  overboard,  yet 
God  brought  him  to  that  little  Isle,  where  was  no  inhabitants  but  a 
few  kine  and  goats."  With  his  customary  good-luck,  however,  next 
morning  he  was  taken  on  board  of  the  Britaine,  a  French  ship,  and 
handsomely  entertained  by  the  captain.  Sailing  to  Alexandria,  the 
shi{)  discharged  her  freight,  and  thence  passed  over  to  the  northern 
coasts.  Meeting  with  a  large  Venetian  argosy,  the  French  captain 
hailed  her,  and  was  answered  by  a  shot  which  lost  him  a  man.  A 
uaval  battle,  contested  with  great  fury,  and  lasting  for  some  hours 
with  all  the  horrors  of  broadsides,  boarding,  danger  of  conflagration 
&c.,  ensued ;  but  after  the  argosy  had  lost  twenty  men  and  was  ready 
to  sink,  she  yielded.  All  was  now  active  exertion  in  stopping  her 
leaks  and  transferring  her  cargo  to  the  victor.  "The  Silkes,  Vel- 
vets, Cloth  of  Gold,  and  Tissue,  Pya.sters,  Chiequecnes,  and  SulUuiics 
(which  is  gold  and  silver,)  they  unloaded  in  four  and  twenty  houres 
was  wonderfull,  whereof  having  sufficient,  and  tired  with  toilo,  they 
cast  her  oil'  with  her  company,  with  as  much  good  merchandize  as 
would  have  fraughted  another  Britaine,  that  was  but  two  hundred 
Tunnes,  shee  foure  or  five  hundred."  As  a  reward  for  his  valour 
in  tliis  desperate  engagement,  Smith  received  live  liundred  cliic- 
queeiies  "and  a  little  box  God  sent  him"  (he  piously  adds)  "worth 
ueere  jis  much  more." 

Landing  in  Piedmont,  he  travelled  through  much  of  Italy,  spent 
some  time  in  surveying  the  rugged  and  jtioturcsque  coast  of  Albania 
and  Daliiialia,  and,  eager  for  a  chance  to  figlit  against  the  Tcrks, 
finally  made  his  way  tu  Gratz,  in  Syria,  where  was  the  court  of  the 
Archduke  Ferdinand,  of  Austria.  No  time  could  have  been  more 
j)ropitiourt  to  his  hoi)es.  The  memorable  war  with  tlie  Great  Turk, 
Mahdi.ii't  II.,  wjis  then  in  full  cuntcst,  and  the  young  adventurer, 
iiilroduced  by  some  of  his  countrynien  to  tlie  higli  officers  ni'  the 
iiiij.irial  service,  soon  found  an  ample  field  for  the  display  of  his 


THE  SETTLEMENT   OF  VIRGINIA. 


89 


courage  and  military  genius.  At  the  siege  of  Olympcba,  soon  after 
he  joined  the  army,  by  an  ingenious  system  of  telegraphic  fires,  he 
concerted  a  plan  with  the  garrison,  by  which  the  Turks,  with  great 
slaughter,  were  compelled  to  raise  the  siege.  He  now  received  the 
command  of  two  hundred  and  fifty  men  in  the  regiment  of  the 
famous  Earl  Meldritch,  and  executed  other  ingenious  devices  against 
the  enemy,  which,  in  his  biography,  are  quaintly  titled  "  An  excel- 
lent stratagem  by  Smith;  another  not  much  worse;"  "A  pretty 
stratagem  of  fire-works  by  Smith,"  &c.,  &c.  One  of  these  con- 
trivances, at  the  siege  of  Stowlle-Wesenburg,  (1601,)  consisted  of  a 
great  number  of  bombs  or  grenades,  prepared  with  all  manner  of 
explosive  and  combustible  materials,  which,  by  means  of  great 
rlings,  he  flung  into  the  thickest  of  the  besieged.  "  At  midnight, 
upon  the  alarum,"  he  says,  "it  was  a  feareful  sight  to  behold  the  short 
flaming  course  of  their  flight  in  the  aire,  but  presently  after  their 
fall,  the  lamentable  noise  of  the  miserably  slaughtered  Turkes  was 
most  wonderful  to  heare*."  This  town,  which  the  latter  had  held  for 
nearly  sixty  years,  was  finally  taken  by  storm,  "with  such  a  mer- 
cilesse  execution  as  was  most  pitifuU  to  behold."  So-n  after  they 
were  again  defeated  with  the  loss  of  six  thousand  men,  in  a  battle  on 
the  plains  of  Girke,  and  Smith,  half  of  whose  regiment  was  cut  to 
pieces,  as  he  says,  "  had  his  horse  slaine  under  him  and  himself  sore 
wounded;  but  he  was  not  long  unmounted, /or  there  was  choice 
enough  of  horses  that  wanted  masters." 

The  Christian  army,  seventeen  thousand  strong,  under  Prince 
Moyses  and  Earl  Meldritch,  laid  siege  to  Regall,  a  strong  and  almost 
impregnable  town  in  the  mountains  of  Transylvania,  garrisoned 
by  a  large  force  of  "Turks,  Tartars,  Bandittces,  Rennegadoes,  and 
such  like."  The  work  of  making  trenches  and  batteries  went  on 
but  slowly,  and  the  Turks,  jeering  at  their  enemies,  would  ask  if 
their  artillery  was  in  pawn,  and  complain  that  they  were  growing  fat 
for  want  of  exercise.  A  message  presently  arrived  from  the  fort, 
that  "to  delight  the  Latlios,  who  did  long  to  see  some  court-like 
pastime,  the  I^ord  Tusbashaw  did  dofie  any  captain  that  had  the  com- 
mand of  a  company  that  durst  combate  with  him  for  his  Head." 
So  many  of  the  Christian  ofiicers  were  eager  to  undertake  the  duel, 
that  the  matter  was  decided  by  lot,  and  the  peril  and  honour  of  the 
adventure  foil  to  our  young  friend  Smith.  At  a  giv^n  signal,  the 
adversaries,  in  full  view  of  both  armies— "the  liain])iors  all  beset 


with 


fuire  Dames"— tilted  against  each  other  with  ecpial  courage 


<  Ifl 


40 


THE  rKOrLE'8  BOOK  OF  lllSTOKV. 


and  fury,  but  with  better  advantage  to  the  Christian,  who  ran  his 
enemy  through  hehnet  and  brain,  and  nimbly  ahghting,  cut  off  Lis 
head,  whicli  he  presented  to  the  Prince  General. 

One  Grualgro,  "  the  %  owed  friend  "  of  the  fallen  chief,  resolved  to 
avenge  his  fall  or  share  his  fate ;  and  a  second  encounter,  the  next 
day,  caine  off,  with  equal  success  to  Smith,  who  unhorsed  his  enemy 
and  speedily  possessed  himself  of  his  head.     Unsatisfied  with  hig 
unusual  good  fortune  and  renown,  the  young  champion,  in  turn 
pent  a  courteous  message  that  the  ladies  might  have  the  heads  of 
their  two  servants,  and   his  own  besides,  if  any  Turk  of  proper 
degree  would  come  and  take  them.     This  audacious  challenge,  ac- 
cepted by  one  Bonny  Mulyro,  had  nearly  proved  the  death  of  our 
hero,  who,  by  a  blow  of  his  opponent's  battle-axe,  lost  his  own  and 
was  nearly  unhorsed.     The  Turks  set  up  a  tremendous  shout  of 
applause  from  the  ramparts,  yet  Smith,  to  use  his  own  language 
"what  by  the  readinesse  of  his  horse,  and  his  judgment  and  dexter- 
itie  in  auch  a  businesse,  beyond   all  men's  expectation,  by  God's 
asiiistance,  not  onely  avoided  the  Turkts  violence,  but  having  drawne 
his  Faulcheon,  pierced  the  Turke  so  under  the  Culets,  thorow  backo 
and  body,  that,  although  he  alighted  from  his  horse,  hee  stood  not 
long  ere  hee  lost  his  head,  as  the  rest  had  done."    Great  rejoiciii<r 
tocjk  place  in  the  Christian  army,  and  Smith  was  complimented  atul 
exalted  to  the  skies.     The  town,  after  a  desperate  defence,  was  taken 
by  storm,  atid  the  Turks  entrenched  themselves  in  flie  castle.     "The 
Eiirle,  remembering  his  father's  death,  battered  it  with  all  the  ord- 
nance in  the  towne,  and  the  next  day  took  it;  all  he  found  could 
bear  Armes  he  put  to  the  sword,  and  set  their  hi'ads  upon  Ktuke.s 
round  about  the  walls,  as  they  had  used  the  Christians  wlion  thev 
tooke  it."     This  was  certainly  rather  an  indifferent  .S'liool  for  the 
cultivation  of  humanity  or  refinement;  yet  Smith  seems  never  to 
have  become   in.'eeted  with  the  cruelty  of  the  age,  or  to  have  en- 
gaged in  these  sanguinary  scenes  with  any  motive  beyoiid  that  of 
the  renown  to  be  ae(piired  by  gallant  deeds  of  arm.s,  and  tlic  idea,  in 
his  day  not  altogether  groundless,  that  a  blow  struck  in  hehalfof 
Christendom   against   the   invading   ranks  of  the   infidels,   was  a 
meritorious  work. 

Sigisnnind  of  Transylvania,  on  rej)airit)g  to  the  army,  was  so 
pleased  with  this  last  exploit  of  the  young  soldier,  that  "vith  greal 
honour  hi'  !j;ave  him  three  Turkts'  Heads  in  a  Sliield  for  his  Arines, 
\<\  patent  under  his  hand  and  .scale,  with  Jiu  oathe  ever  to  weare 


TUE  SETTLEMENT  OF  VIRGINIA. 


41 


tliciii  in  his  Colours,  his  picture  in  Gould,  and  three  hundred  Ducats 
Ycorely  for  a  pension."  This  patent  was  afterwards  admitted  and 
recorded  in  the  Ilerald's  College  of  England. 

Fortune  finally  turned  against  the  Christians,  whose  army,  in  the 
terrible  battle  of  Rotenton,  overwhelmed  by  superior  numbers,  was 
almost  entirely  cut  to  pieces.  "  In  this  bloudy  field,"  says  our  author, 
"neere  30,000  lay,  some  headlesse,  armelesse,  and  leglesse,  all  cut 
and  mangled;  where  breathing  their  last,  they  gave  this  knowledge 
to  the  world,  that  for  the  lives  of  so  few,  the  Cnjm-Tartar  never  paid 
dearer."  Among  the  victims  were  a  number  of  adventurous  Eng- 
lishmen, fighting  for  renown,  who  all  "did  what  men  could  doe, 
and  when  they  could  do  no  more,  left  there  their  bodies  in  testimonie 
of  their  mindes.  *  *  *  jjut  Smith"  (continues  that 
gentleman)  "  among  the  slaughtered  dead  bodies  and  many  a  gasp- 
ing soule,  with  toile  and  wounds  lay  groaning  among  the  rest." 

Captured  and  cured  of  his  wounds,  he  was  sold  with  many  more 
as  a  slave  at  Axapol.is;  and  his  purchaser,  a  certain  Bashaw  Bogall, 
sent  him  on  to  Constantinople  as  a  present  to  his  young  mistress, 
with  the  assurance  that  he  was  a  Bohemian  lord,  the  trophy  of  his 
personal  prowess.  The  lady,  like  most  whom  the  gallant  captain 
encountered,  at  once  experienced  a  tender  interest  for  his  welfare; 
and  fearing  lest  he  should  be  sold  out  of  the  family,  dispatched  him, 
with  a  letter  of  recommendation,  to  her  brother,  the  Bashaw  of 
Nalbritz,  in  Tartary,  near  the  sea  of  Azof.  This  kindly  manceuvre, 
however,  served  him  nothing;  for  the  ferocious  Turk,  apprehending 
the  true  state  of  the  case,  took  all  imaginable  pains  in  persecuting 
hira.  With  his  head  and  beard  shaved  "so  bare  as  his  hand,"  a 
great  iron  ring  rivetted  ab(mt  his  neck,  and  a  rough  garment  of  hair 
and  hide,  the  unfortunate  Smith  underwent  a  slavery,  "so  bad,  a 
dog  could  hardly  have  lived  to  endure,"  and  was  finally  made 
thresher  at  a  lonely  grange  of  his  master,  more  than  a  league  from 
the  house.  The  result,  in  his  own  brief  language,  was,  that  "the 
Bashaw,  as  he  used  often  to  visit  his  granges,  visited  him,  and  took 
occasion  so  to  boat,  spurnc,  and  revile  him,  that,  forgetting  all  reason, 
he  beat  out  the  I'l/tnour^s  braines  with  his  threshing-bat,  for  they 
have  no  flailes;  and  seeing  his  estate  could  be  no  worse  than  it  was, 
clollied  himself  in  his  clothes,  hid  his  body  under  the  straw,  filled  his 
knai)sacke  with  corne,  mounted  his  horse,  and  ranne  into  the  desart 
at  all  adventure."  For  some  days  he  wandered  in  the  wilderness, 
but  finally,  lighting  upon  the  high  road  from  Tartary  to  llussiit, 


"^^.a 


42 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK   OF  HISTORY. 


I 


made  his  way,  after  a  journey  of  sixteen  days,  to  Ecopolis,  a  Russian 
post  on  the  Don.  Here  he  was  kindly  received,  and  on  his  return 
to  Transylvania,  "glutted  with  content  and  neere  drowned  with  joy  " 
great  rejoicing  took  place  at  his  escape  and  the  manner  of  it,  both 
so  characteristic  of  his  temper.  At  Prague,  whither  he  repaired 
Sigismund  presented  him  with  fifteen  hundred  ducats,  equipped  with 
which  he  travelled  through  Germany,  France,  and  Spain,  viewing 
notable  places  and  adding  to  his  extensive  information.  In  a  French 
shi])  he  sailed  to  Africa,  meaning  to  take  part  in  the  civil  wars  in 
Morocco;  "but  by  reason  of  the  uncertaintie,  and  the  peifidious 
treacherous,  bloudy  murthers  rather  than  warre,  among  those  per- 
fidious, barbarous  Moores,^^  changed  his  purpose.  Passing  an  evening 
aboard  the  ship,  a  gale  of  wind  compelled  her  to  run  to  sea,  and  the 
captain's  taste  for  adventure  was  presently  gratified  by  "a  brave  sea- 
fight,"  lasting  for  two  days,  with  a  conple  of  Spanish  men-of-war. 
They  were  finally  beaten  oflf,  with  a  loss,  it  was  supposed,  of  a  hun- 
dred men.  In  an  action  so  desperate,  the  services  of  Smith,  it  may 
well  be  supposed,  were  not  without  an  opportunity  for  their  full 
appreciation.    Not  long  after  (1604)  he  returned  to  England. 


tiJuilXTXiCiiU     XX« 


VIRGINIAN  COLONIZATION  REVIVED. — PATENT  OF  JAMES  I, — ILL- 
ASSORTED  COMPANY  OF  SETTLERS. — THE  EXPEDITION  SAILS  FOR 
AMERICA. — ACCIDENTALLY    ENTERS   JAMES   RIVER. — ILL 
TREATMENT  OF  SMITH. — INTERCOURSE  WITH  THE  !NDIANS. 
—  JAMESTOWN   FOUNDED.  —  EXCURSION   OF  SMITH   AND 
NEWPORT. — POWHATAN. — THE  INDIANS  OF  VIRGINIA. 


Soon  after  the  return  cif  Smith,  he  became  acquainted  with  Captain 
GosnoM,  whose  voyage  has  already  been  mentioned;  and  the  scl  eme 
of  Virginian  colonization  was  again  revived.  Sir  Ferdinand  Gorges, 
Sir  John  Popham,  chief  justice  of  England,  and  other  persons  of 
rank  and  influence,  were  persuaded  to  take  an  interest  in  their  plan; 
and  thus  in  April,  IHOfi,  t!ic  king  (.Tames  I.)  was  induced  to  issue 
letters  patent  to  Sir  Thomius  Gates,  Sir  George  Somers  and  others, 
granting  them  all  the  territory  on  the  eastern  sea-board  of  North 


THE  SETTLEMENT  OF  VIRGINIA. 


43 


America,  between  thirty-four  and  forty-five  degrees  north  latitude. 
Two  companies,  one  of  Londoners  and  the  other  of  gentlemen, 
&c.,  from  the  West  of  England,  were  formed,  the  first  to  colonize 
the  southern  and  the  latter  the  northern  portion  of  the  grant;  but 
with  a  strict  proviso,  dictated  by  the  luolish  jealousy  of  James,  that 
a  hundred  miles  of  wilderness  should  intervene  between  their  re- 
spective settlements.  As  the  first  of  these  only  succeeded  in  their 
design,  our  account  will  be  restricted  chiefly  to  their  operations. 

On  the  19th  of  December,  1606,  three  small  vessels,  commanded 
by  Captain  Christopher  Newport,  and  carrying  an  hundred  and  five 
colonists,  sailed  from  Blackwall  for  Virginia.  Forty-eight  of  this 
number  were  enrolled  as  gentlemen,  and  twelve  as  labourers — an 
ominous  proportion  for  the  prc.oerity  of  the  projected  settle- 
ment. Gosnold  and  Smith,  Edward  Wingfield,  a  merchant,  George 
Percy,  and  the  Rev.  Robert  Hunt,  were  the  principal  persons  of  the 
expedition. 

Delayed  by  contrary  winds,  the  little  fleet,  bearing  the  germ  of  the 
American  commonwealth,  was  six  weeks  in  sight  of  England;  and 
when  it  finally  got  to  sea,  took  the  old  circuitous  route  of  the  Cana- 
ries and  West  Indies.  By  the  folly  of  James,  sealed  instructions, 
in  a  box  not  to  bo  opened  till  their  arrival,  had  been  provided,  nam- 
ing the  authorities  of  the  colony.  Dissension  thus  sprung  up  early 
in  the  voyage,  and  at  the  Canaries,  Smith,  accused,  by  the  absurd 
jealousy  of  some,  of  conspiring  to  make  himself  "king  of  Virginia," 
was  put  in  confinement.  They  steered  for  Roanoke,  but  by  a  piece 
of  excell(;nt  disappointment,  were  carried  by  a  storm  past  the  place 
of  their  destination,  and  entered  Chesapeake  Bay.  Naming  the 
headlands  Cape  Henry  and  Cape  Charles,  in  honour  of  the  king's  sons, 
tlicy  sailed  up  the  James  River  about  forty  miles,  and  went  on  shore, 
delighted  with  all  they  s^w.  "  V/e  passed  through  excellent  ground," 
says  one  of  them,  "full  of  flowers  of  divers  kinds  and  colours,  and 
as  goodly  trees  as  I  have  seen,  as  cedar,  cypress,  aiid  other  kinds; 
going  a  little  further  we  came  to  a  little  plat  of  ground,  full  of  fine 
and  beautiful  strawberries,  four  times  bigger  and  better  than  ours 
of  England,"  "  Feaven  and  earth,"  says  the  enthusiastic  Smith, 
"seemed  never  to  have  agreed  better  to  frame  a  place  fur  man's 
commodious  and  delightful  habitation." 

The  very  day  of  their  ariival,  the  settlers  perceived  certain  hostile 
savages,  "creeping  on  all  foures,  from  the  hils  like  Beares,"  but 
put  tliem  to  flight  by  a  discharge  of  muskets.     At  Point  Comfort, 


l!i 


Hi 


m:'  H-h 


■  \ 

,— ■  I 
'     "    5 

n 

ifel^i 

m'v. 

IE'  :::.:' 'iii-:h. 

u 


TIIK    PKOPLE'S    BOOK   OF   HISTORY. 


however,  nnd  other  places,  they  were  kindly  received  by  the  tiativps 
who  gave  them  corn-bread,  pipes  and  tobacco,  and  held  a  dance  in 
honour  of  them.  The  chief  of  the  Rappahannas,  who,  with  a  con- 
siderable attendance,  came  to  meet  them,  "entertained  us,"  says  tlio 
journal,  "in  so  modest  a  proud  fashion,  as  though  he  had  been  a 
prince  of  civill  government,  holding  his  countenance  without  any 
laughter  or  any  such  ill  behaviour.  lie  caused  his  mat  to  be  spread 
on  the  ground,  where  he  sat  down  with  great  majesty,  taking  a  pipe 
of  tobacco,  the  rest  of  his  company  standing  around  him." 

Having  made  considerable  survey  of  the  shores  of  the  river,  the 
little  colony  of  Englishmen  chose  for  the  site  of  their  settlement  a 
peninsula  on  the  northern  bank,  and  called  it  Jamestown,  in  honour 
of  the  sovereign.  It  was  now  an  hundred  and  nine  years  since 
Cabot,  sailing  by  these  shores,  had  conferred  on  England  the  con- 
ventional right  to  so  great  a  part  of  the  North  American  continent- 
yet  this  was  the  first  successful  attempt  of  that  nation  to  plant  a 
colony  in  the  Western  Hemisphere.  That  it  did  not  speedily  share 
the  fate  of  its  predecessors,  is  almost  entirely  due  to  the  adniirablo 
courage,  sagacity,  and  patitjnce  of  a  man  greatly  wronged  and  abused, 
in  its  very  inception. 

On  opening  the  sealed  box,  it  was  found  that  a  council  of  seven 
including  Wingfield,  Gosnold,  Newport,  and  Smith,  were  appointed 
to  govern  the  colony;  but  the  last,  the  only  reliable  man  of  the 
whole  company,  by  the  paltry  jealousy  of  his  associates,  was  sot 
aside;  "the  Councell  was  sworne,  Mr.  Wingfield  was  chosen  Presi- 
dent, and  an  Oration  made,  why  Captaine  Smith  was  not  admitted 
of  the  Councell  as  the  rest."  His  zeal  for  the  promotion  of  the 
scheme  unquenched  by  this  unworthy  treatment,  the  excluded  coun- 
cillor set  forth  with  Newport  on  an  expedition  of  further  survey. 

In  the  cour.se  .^f  this  voyage,  much  was  learned  concerning  the 
Indians  of  the  adjoining  regions.  Of  forty-three  native  tribes,  dwell- 
ing between  the  mountains  and  the  sea,  about  thirty,  numbering,  it 
is  said,  eight  thousand  souks,  were  Tinder  the  rule  of  a  powerful  chief- 
tain, named  Wahun.sonacock,  but  whose  customary  title,  derived, 
Hke  that  of  a  European  grandee,  from  his  principal  residence,  woa 
Powhatan.  The  names  of  Tuscaloosa,  Quigaltanqui,  and  those  of 
many  other  native  American  chiefs,  identical  with  their  towns  or 
principalities,  indicate  the  prevalence  of  the  usage.  His  residence 
of  Powhctan  was  at  the  Falls  of  James  River,  at  the  site  of  Rich- 
mond, and  that  of  Werowocomoco  on  tlie  north  side  of  York  River. 


THE    SETTLEMENT    OF    VIRGINIA. 


45 


Ascending  the  first  named  stream,  after  a  voyage  of  six  days,  tlio 
explorers  came  to  the  falls,  whore  they  were  courteously  received 
by  the  great  chief  just  mentioned — "of  personage,"  says  Smith,  "a 
tall,  well  proportioned  man,  with  a  sower  1.^  ke,  his  head  some  what 
gray,  his  beard  so  thinne  it  seemeth  none  at  all,  his  age  neere  sixtie; 
of  a  very  able  and  hardy  body  to  endure  any  labor.  *  *  *  It 
is  strange,"  he  presently  proceeds,  "to  see  with  what  great  feare  and 
adoration  all  these  people  doe  obey  this  Powhatan.  For  at  his  feete 
they  present  whatsoever  he  commandeth,  and  at  the  least  frowne  of 
his  brow,  their  greatest  spirits  will  tremble  with  feare;  and  no  mar- 
veil,  for  he  is  very  tyrannous  and  terrible  in  punishing  such  as 
offend  him,  *  *  Yet  when  he  listeth,  his  will  is  a  law  and  must 
be  obeyed ;  not  onely  as  a  king,  but  halfe  as  a  God  they  esteeme  him." 

The  Indians  of  Virginia,  dwelling  in  a  milder  clime,  and  on  a 
more  fertile  soil,  seem  to  have  possessed  more  of  the  comforts  of  life 
than  those  of  New  England.  They  lived  by  the  chase,  by  fishing, 
and,  to  a  considerable  extent,  by  plantation.  Their  clothing  was  of 
furs,  but  they  were  very  hardy  and  able  to  endure  cold.  Their 
children,  from  infancy,  they  used  to  wash  in  the  rivers,  "and  by 
paintings  and  ointments  so  tanne  their  skinnes,  that  afler  a  yeare  or 
two  no  weather  will  hurto  them."  The  customary  passion  of  sav- 
ages for  personal  picturing,  seems,  indeed,  to  have  had  full  sway, 
the  favourite  colour  being  red.  "Many  other  formes  of  painting 
they  use,  but  he  is  the  most  gallant  that  is  the  most  monstrous 
to  behold." 

They  were  a  warlike  people,  and  were  oflen  engaged  in  feud  with 
their  neighbours.  Smith  gives  a  curious  account  of  a  great  sham- 
fight,  which  Powhatan's  warriors,  at  Mattapanient,  once  performed 
fur  his  diversion.  Two  parties,  each  of  a  hundred,  approached  each 
other  in  warlike  array,  "all  duly  keeping  their  orders,  yet  leaping 
and  singing  after  their  accustomed  tune,  which  they  only  vse  in 
Warres.  Vpon  the  first  flight  of  arrowes,  they  gave  such  horrible 
shouts  and  schreeches,  as  so  many  infernall  hell-hounds  could  not 
have  made  them  more  terrible.  When  they  had  spent  their  arrowes, 
they  joyned  together  prettily,  charging  and  rehiring,  every  ranke 
seconding  the  other.  As  they  got  advantage,  they  catched  their 
enemies  by  the  hayre  of  the  head,  and  down  came  he  that  was  taken. 
Tlis  enemy  with  his  wooden  sword  seemed  to  beate  out  his  braines. 
and  still  they  crept  to  the  rear  to  maintain  the  skirmish.  *  *  * 
All  their  actions,  voyccs,  and  gestures,  both  in  charging  and  retiring, 


•^■!< 


''■M 


46 


TIIK    I'KUl'LK'S    HOOK    OF    HISTORY 


were  so  stj-ainecl  to  the  lieight  of  their  qualitie  anJ  nature,  that  tho 
strangeness  thereof  nmdo  it  seeme  very  delightfull." 

Little  that  is  definite  seems  to  have  been  ascertained  concerning 
their  religious  belief— tho  uncouth  ceremonies  of  the  Powwow,  and 
the  manifestations  of  a  savage  taste  being  directly  construed  into 
an  explicit  Satanism.  "Their  chief  God  they  worship,"  says  the 
captain,  "is  the  Devill.  Him  they  call  Okee^  and  serve  him  more  of 
feare  than  love.  They  say  they  have  conferrence  with  him,  and 
fashion  themselves  as  neare  to  his  shape  as  they  can  imagine.  In 
their  Temples  they  have  his  image  evill-favoredly  carved,  in  such 
manner  as  the  deformitie  may  well  suit  with  such  a  God.  *  * 
Upon  the  top  of  certain  red  sandy  hils  in  the  woodes,  there  are  three 
great  houses  filled  with  Images  of  their  Kinges  and  Devills,  and 
Tombes  of  their  predecessors.  This  place  they  count  so  holy  as 
none  but  the  Priests  and  Kings  dare  come  into  them."  Their  reli- 
gious ceremonies  were  sufficiently  fantastic  and  barbarous.  Their 
chief  priest,  horrid  in  a  head-dress  of  the  signs  of  snakes  and  other 
reptiles,  made  invocations  before  tho  cirole  of  worshippers  "with 
broken  sciilencos,  by  starts  and  strange  passions,  and  at  every  pause 
the  rest  give  a  short  groane" — probably  the  Indian  "ugh,"  denoting 
assent.  "And  in  this  lamentable  ignorance,"  he  continues,  "doo 
these  poore  Soules  saorifice  themselves  to  the  Devill,  not  knowing 
their  Creator;  and  we  bad  not  language  sufficient,  so  plainly  to  ex- 
press it  as  to  make  them  understand  it,  which  God  grant  tlicy  inay." 


u  itl  ii  X    X    £j  jtl     i  X  I . 

TRIAL   AND   VINDICATION   OP   SMITH.  —  PAMINB   AND   TERRIBI.l! 

MORTALITY.  —  SMITH,    BY    HIS    BXERTlO.fS,   SUPPORTS  THE 

COLONY. — TRBACHKRY   OP   HIS   ASSOCIATES. — DBALIN08 

WITH  THE  INDIANS.  —  IDLB  AND  MISBEABLB  COLaNISTS. 

...  ^ 

"While  the  party  of  survey  was  absent,  an  attack  had  been  made 
by  the  Indians  on  the  colonists,  one  of  whom  was  killed,  and  many 
others  were  wounded,  and  Jamestown  was  therefore  fortified  with 
palisades  and  artillery.  Captain  Smith,  on  his  return,  to  silence  the 
slanders  of  his  enemies,  demanded  a  public  trial;  in  which  his  inno- 


c.1PT.1r^f•  Joii.Y  s.MiTir, 

TUB        POUNDER      OF       VIRO'NIA. 
BORN  AT  WILLOUOIIBY  UNCOLNSIIIRE.  ITO:    LANDED  IN  VIROINIA,  1807:  PIED  1B3I 


I 


■r  fa. 


cenco  ai 
restored 
jmy  hiir 
which, 
Oil  tl 

land. 
privatio 
lected  1 
wildern 
tuiiate  e 
the  sailc 
applicai 
Hut  in,  a 
the  onl 
"from  I 
canoniz 
mitted,  I 
Beefo,  I 
was  wal 

Durir 
one,  ha( 
aggrava 
and  trcj 
the  sett 
dead  Sj; 
was  at 
refused 
brought 
relic  1',  111 

The  t 
nominal 
judgme 
manage 
associati 
With  t\ 
the  sett 
"  By  hi! 
to  mow 
thatch, 
tliat,  in 


THE   8KTTLKMENT   ()K    VIRGINIA. 


47 


conoc  and  the  inalico  of  his  detractors  was  so  apparent,  tliat  ho  waH 
restored  to  his  seat  in  the  Council,  and  Wingfleld  was  adjudged  to 
pay  him  damages  in  goods  to  the  value  of  two  hundred  pounds, 
which,  however,  Smith  put  into  the  store-houso,  for  the  public  use. 

On  the  15th  of  June,  Newport,  with  the  vessels,  returned  to  Eng- 
land. Uis  departure  was  the  signal  for  immediate  distress  and 
privation.  The  company,  with  wretched  improvidence,  had  neg- 
lected to  supply  sufficient  stores  for  a  colony  just  landed  in  the 
wilderness,  and  even  during  the  stay  of  the  fleet,  many  of  the  unfor- 
tunate settlers  had  been  reduced  for  support  to  biscuits  pilfered  by 
the  sailors  from  the  ship-stores,  and  sparingly  dealt  out  to  the  hungry 
applicants  "for  saxefras,  furres,  or  love."  A  regular  famine  at  once 
Bct  in,  a  daily  pint  of  wheat  or  barley,  all  alive  with  insects,  being 
the  only  allowance.  "Ilad  we  been  as  free,"  says  one  of  them, 
"from  all  sinnes  as  gluttony  and  drunkenness,  we  might  have  been 
canonized  as  samts;  but  our  President  would  never  have  been  ad- 
mitted, for  ingrossing  to  his  private,  Oatemeale,  Sacke,  Oyle,  Aquavitcc, 
Beeft',  Eggea,  and  what  not  but  the  Kettell.  *  *  Our  drinke 
was  water,  our  lodginges  Castles  in  the  Ayre." 

During  the  summer,  fifty  of  the  company,  of  whom  Gosnold  was 
one,  had  died  from  the  diseases  incident  to  a  change  of  climate  and 
aggravated  by  privation  and  exposure.  Wingfield,  with  a  cowardly 
and  treacherous  policy,  attempted  to  seize  the  pinnace  and  desert 
the  settlement,  "which,"  proceeds  the  old  narrator,  "so  moved  our 
dead  Spirits  as  we  deposed  him."  When  this  famine  and  distress 
was  at  its  height,  the  neighbouring;  Indians,  who  heretofore  had 
refused  to  impart  their  store,  .denly  changing  their  resolution, 
brought  abundant  supplies  ui  fruits  and  provision — a  seasonable 
rcliol',  ascribed  by  the  colomj.w  !o  the  direct  interposition  of  God, 

Tlie  council  was  now  noducted  to  three,  consisting  of  RatclifFe,  the 
nominal  president,  Martin,  and  Smith;  but  the  two  first,  "of  weake 
judgment  in  dangers  and  lesse  industry  in  peace,"  shifted  the  entire 
management  and  care  of  the  colony  on  the  shoulders  of  their  sturdy 
associate.  Those  slioulders  were  amply  strong  enough  to  bear  it. 
With  the  greatest  diligence,  he  set  to  work  to  supply  the  w  ints  of 
the  settlers,  and  to  provide  them  with  shelter  against  the  winter. 
"By  his  owiie  example,  good  words,  and  faire  promises,  he  set  some 
to  mow,  others  to  binde  thatch,  some  to  build  houses,  others  to 
thatch,  alwayes  bearing  the  greatest  taske  for  his  owne  share,  so 
that,  in  short  time,  he  provided  most  of  them  lodgings,  neglecting  any 
Vol.  IV.— 32 


\^ 


48 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTOKT. 


for  himselfe.^^  This  labour  accomplished,  and  the  people  beginning 
to  suffer  again  from  want  of  food,  he  set  forth  in  a  boat,  with  five 
or  six  others,  to  gain  supplies  by  traffic  with  the  more  distant  In. 
dians.  The  latter,  however,  with  rude  inhospitality,  "scorned  him  " 
he  says,  "as  a  famished  man,  and  would  in  derision  offer  him  a 
handfull  of  come,  a  peece  of  bread,  for  their  swords  and  muskets 
and  such  like  proportions  also  for  their  apparell."  These  uncivil 
taunts  brought  on  hostilities,  and  the  captain,  in  a  skirmish,  got 
possession  of  their  Okee  or  god,  to  ransom  which,  they  were  fain  to 
load  the  English  boat  with  plenty  of  com,  turkeys,  and  venison. 
Smith,  in  return,  gave  them  beads,  copper,  and  hatchets,  and  a 
friendship  was  struck  up  with  that  curious  suddenness  which  seems 
alike  to  distinguish  savage  enmity  or  amity. 

In  spite  of  Smith's  unwearied  exertions,  to  supply  the  settlers 
with  food,  we  are  told,  "yet  what  he  carefully  provided,  the  rest 
carelesly  spent.  *  *  #  The  Spaniard  never  more 
greedily  desired  gold  than  he  victuall,  nor  his  Souldiers  more  to 
abandon  the  country  than  he  to  keepe  it."  Of  the  ill-assorted  com- 
pany, he  says,  there  were  "many  meerely  projecting,  verbal!  and 
idle  contemplators,  and  those  so  devoted  to  pure  idlenesse,  that 
though  they  had  lived  in  Virginia  two  or  three  years,  lordly,  neces- 
sitie  itselfe  could  not  compell  them  to  passe  the  Peninsula  or  the 
Palisadoes  of  Tames  Towne.  *  *  Our  ingenious  Verbalists 
were  no  lesse  plague  to  us  in  Virginia  than  the  Locusts  to  the  Egyp. 
tians."  Because  they  did  not  find  Taverns  and  Alehouses  at  every 
turn,  he  says,  nor  feather  beds  and  down  pillows,  they  thought  of 
nothing  but  present  comfort  and  speedy  return.  Wingfield  and 
others  seized  the  pinnace,  and  would  have  fled  to  England,  but 
Smith  by  force  of  arms  compelled  them  to  remain,  and  one  of  the 
malcontents  was  killed  in  the  attempt 


■  •  ( 


roUuuuCasu 


.  ■ ;  .' . 


THE  SETTLEMENT   OF  VIRGINIA. 


49 


I 


EXPEDITION  AND  CAPTURE  OP  SMITH:    HIS  8TEAN0B  ADVENTURES 

AMONG  THE  INDIANS. — CONJURATIONS  PERFORMED  OVER  HIM. 

—  HE   IS   CARRIED   TO   POWHATAN.  —  HIS   LIFE  SAVED   BY 

POCAHONTAS — STRANGE  MASQDERALB  OF  POWHATAN. 

— RELEASE  AND   RETURN   OF  SMITH. 

Proceeding  up  the  ChicKahominy,  Captain  Smith  at  last  procured 
by  traffic  such  abundant  supplies  of  provision,  that  the  empty  stom- 
achs of  the  mutineers  no  longer  cried  out  for  return  to  England. 
In  another  expedition,  in  the  same  direction,  he  experienced  that 
memorable  adventure,  the  rival  of  romance  and  the  brightest  orna- 
ment of  American  colonial  history. 

Having  left  his  canoe,  with  two  companions,  on  the  bank  of  a 
stream,  he  struck  off  twenty  miles  further  into  the  vnldemess  to 
reach  its  head  waters.  The  crew  of  his  barge,  which  he  had  left 
further  down  the  river,  were  attacked  by  a  great  body  of  warriors, 
under  Opechancanough,  king  of  Pamunkey,  the  brother  of  Powhatan. 
Only  one  of  them,  however,  was  captured,  who,  after  having  been 
compelled  to  inform  the  savages  of  the  route  taken  by  Captain  Smith, 
was  barbarously  p\it  to  death.  His  two  companions,  sleeping  by 
their  canoe,  were  the  next  victims,  and  finally  the  whole  force,  two 
hundred  strong,  came  up  with  Smith  himself.  Binding  his  guide 
before  him,  as  a  shield  against  their  arrows,  the  captain  fought  with 
equal  coolness  and  desperation.  He  killed  three  of  the  enemy  and 
wounded  many  more ;  but  finally,  getting  fast  in  a  morass,  became 
80  benumbed  with  cold,  that,  rather  than  freeze,  he  threw  away  his 
deadly  weapons,  and  yielded  himself  prisoner. 

The  Indians  drew  him  out,  and  chafed  his  benumbed  limbs  before 
a  fire.  His  presence  of  mind  unfailing,  he  pulled  forth  a  little 
compass,  set  in  ivory,  which  he  gave  the  chief.  "  At  the  sight  of 
this  strange  little  engine,  with  its  trembling  vibrations,  apparently 
instinct  with  life,  the  wonder  of  his  captors  knew  no  bounds;  and 
Smith,  taking  advantage  of  their  interest,  began  forthwith  to  enchain 
with  philosophy  the  attention  of  his  savage  auditors."  To  use  his 
own  words,  "  when  he  demonstrated  by  that  Globe-like  Jewell,  the 
rouudneHse  of  the  earth  and   slcies,  the  spheare  of  the  Sunne, 


'i' 


■^4 


11 


^•^' 


50 


THE  PEOPLE'S   BOOK   OF  HISTORY. 


Moone,  and  Starres,  and  how  the  Sunne  did  chase  the  night  round 
about  the  world  continually;  the  greatnesse  of  the  Sea  and  Land 
the  diversitie  of  Nations,  varietie  of  complexions,  and  how  we  were 
to  them  Antipodes,  and  many  such-like  matters,  they  stood  as  all 
amazed  with  admiration." 

Having  tried  his  nerve  by  tying  him  to  a  tree,  and  all  making 
ready  to  shoot  at  him,  they  led  him  in  triumph  to  Orapaks,  a  town 
a  few  miles  from  Powhatan,  where  a  hideous  war-dance  was  per- 
formed about  him,  and  where,  from  the  overweening  hospitality  of 
his  hosts,  he  began  to  fear  that  he  was  to  be  fattened  for  sacrifice. 
Fully  app.'eciating  his  valour,  they  made»him  great  offers  if  he  would 
assist  them  in  an  intend^  attack  on  Jamestown ;  but  Smith,  having 
written  a  note  to  his  friends,  warning  them  of  the  danger,  and  de- 
siring certain  articles,  persuaded  the  Indians  to  take  it  thither,  and 
leave  it  in  sight  of  the  colonists.  To  their  utter  amazement,  they 
found  in  the  same  spot,  on  the  following  day,  the  very  articles  that 
Smith  had  promised  them,  and  all,  in  wonder,  concluded,  "that 
either  he  coulde  divine  or  the  paper  could  speak  e." 

He  was  next  taken  to  Pamunkey,  where  such  strange  and  fantas- 
tical conjurations  were  enacted  over  him,  that  he  felt,  he  says,  as  if 
translated  to  the  infernal  regions.  This  mystical  ceremony  lasted 
for  three  days;  after  which,  the  tribe  entertained  him  with  much 
kindness.  They  had  procured  a  bag  of  gunpowder,  which  they 
were  carefully  keeping  to  plant  the  next  spring,  supposing  it  to  be 
a  species  of  seed.  At  last  he  was  taken  to  Werowocomoco,  where 
Powhatan,  "with  more  than  two  hundred  of  his  grim  courtiers 
dressed  in  their  greatest  braveries,"  was  awaiting  him.  As  he 
entered,  the  whole  court  rose,  in  respect  for  their  valiant  captive 
and  gave  a  great  shout  lie  was  served  in  the  most  honourable  man- 
ner, the  Indian  queen  of  Appamatuck  waiting  on  him  in  penson. 
What  followed  cannot  be  better  given  than  in  his  own  language  or 
that  of  some  one  who  heard  it  from  his  own  lips.  "Having  feasted 
liim  in  the  best  barbarous  manner  they  could,  a  long  consultation 
was  held;  but  the  conclusion  was,  two  great  stones  were  brought 
before  Powliatan;  then  as  inany  as  could  layd  hands  on  him,  dragged 
him  to  them,  and  thereon  layd  his  head,  and  being  ready  with  their 
clul)8  to  beate  out  his  braincs,  PucaJiontas,  the  King's  dearest  daughter, 
when  no  intreaty  could  prevaile,  got  his  head  in  her  arms,  and  layd 
her  owne  upon  his  to  save  hi:n  from  death;  whereat  the  Emperour 
was  contented  he  should  live." 


THE  SETTLEMENT  OF  VIRGINIA. 


51 


"In  all  history  there  is  no  incident  more  dramatic  and  touching. 
After  the  lapse  of  more  than  two  centuries,  familiarized,  but  unhack- 
neyed by  repetition,  it  still  remains  the  most  charming  and  pic- 
turesque scene  in  the  whole  range  of  American  annals.    Its  heroine, 
•the  darling  of  history'  (then  only  a  child  of  ten)  still  warmly 
lives  in  the  love  and  remembrance  of  a  whole  people,  and  stands, 
the  redeeming  spirit  of  her  race  to  hallow  it  with  a  kinder  memory 
than  that  of  warfare  and  revenge."    This  memorable  transaction, 
moreover,  is  of  great  interest  as  one  of  those  comparatively  rare 
incidents  where  the  feelings  and  passions  bring  about  an  event  of  high 
historical  importance.     Certainly  this  was  such,  for  the  entire  weight 
of  the  colony,  for  a  long  time  afterwards,  rested  on  the  brave  heart, 
the  sagacious  head,  and  the  manly  arm  of  Smith.     Had  he  been 
removed,  especially  in  this  critical  juncture,  the  settlers,  without 
doubt,  would  immediately  have  abandoned  the  idea  of  preserving  the 
colony,  and  have  made  their  way  homeward  with  all  practicable  speed. 

The  generosity  of  the  chief  did  not  stop  half  way.  The  release 
of  his  captive  was  resolved  on,  and  was  communicated  in  a  fashion 
characteristic  enough.  "Two  dayes  after,"  the  captain  tells  us, 
^^  Powhafai  '  .  'ng  disguised  himself  in  the  most  fearefullest  manner 
he  could,  ■,  '  Capt.  Smith  to  be  brought  forth  to  a  great  house  in 
the  woodes,  and  there  upon  a  mat  by  the  fire  to  be  lefl  alone" 
(another  experiment  on  his  nerves).  "Not  long  after  from  behinde 
a  mat  that  divided  the  house,  was  made  the  most  dolefullest  noyso 
he  ever  heard;  then  Powhatan^  more  like  a  devill  than  a  man,  with 
some  two  hundred  more  as  blacke  as  himself,  came  unto  him  and 
told  him  now  they  were  friends,  and  presently  he  should  goe  to 
lames  Towne,  to  send  him  two  great  gunnes  and  a  gryndstone,  for 
v/hich  he  would  give  him  the  country  of  Capahowosick)  and  for  ever 
esteeme  him  as  his  son  Nantaquoudy  In  a  memorial,  many  years 
afterwards  addressed  to  the  queen  in  behalf  of  Pocahontas,  Smith, 
recapitulating  the  kindnesses  which  he  had  received  from  the  House 
of  Powhatan,  especially  commemorates  that  of  this  son,  whom  he 
describes  as  "the  most  manliest,  comeliest,  boldest  spirit  I  ever  saw- 
in  a  Salvage."  Accordingly  he  was  dispatched  to  the  settlement  with 
an  escort  of  twelve  guides,  and  was  received  with  great  rejoicing; 
hut  the  messengers,  finding  two  cannons  and  a  millstone  "somewhat 
too  heavy,"  were  fain  to  return  with  presents  better  fitted  for  their 
transportation. 


62 


THE  P.'OPLE'S  BOOK  OF  H18T0KY. 


i 


1  i:>.  ;j- .j^-.  '.-■  ii 


'i   I  ■  •>  .  I  J.* 


o.Jsvq, 


li 


paiTAIIONS  OP    THR    COLONISTS. — RELIEVED    BT  POCAHOK- 
TA8. — ARRIVAL    OP    NEWPORT    PROM     ENGLAND.  —  INTER- 
COURSE  AND   TRAPPIC   WIT   ."   POWHATAN.  —  BLUE   BEADS 
POR    CRO   .  N     JEWELS. — IMAGINARY     GOi.D     MINE. — 
SMITH'S    Y0TA6B     IN     THE     CHESAPEAKE. — INTER- 
VIEWS WITH  NUMEROUS  NATIVE  TRIBES.  —  STINO- 
y        .;        ,.     RAT  POINT. — HIS  RETURN. 

During  the  six  weeks'  captivity  of  Smith,  the  miserable  little  rem- 
nant of  the  colony,  by  quarrels  and  imprc^idence,  was  all  in  confu- 
sion, and  he  was  again  compelled  to  use  force  to  keep  a  number 
from  deserting  in  the  pinnace.  The  malcontents  next  hatched  up  a 
ridiculous  scheme  for  his  execution  on  account  of  the  loss  of  his 
companions,  saying  that,  by  the  Levitioal  law,  he  was  responsible  for 
their  lives:  "but  he  quickly  tooke  such  order  with  such  Lawyers 
that  he  layd  them  by  the  heels,"  (t.  e.  in  prison)  "till  he  sent  some 
of  them  prisoners  for  England."  The  colony,  indeed,  would  have 
jierished  of  hunger,  but  for  the  generosity  of  Pocahontas,  (and  per- 
haps Powhatan,)  who  with  her  attendants  carried  food  to  Jamestown 
every  four  or  five  days.  Through  her  influence  many  other  Indians 
'  '•ought  provision  as  pvesents,  or,  if  they  sold  it,  made  the  captain  fix 
his  o..n  price,  "so  had  he  inchanted  these  poore  soules,  being  their 
prisoner.'' 

Of  two  ships,  dispatched  by  the  company,  with  a  reinforcement  of 
a  hundred  men,  to  Virginia,  one  only  under  Newport  reached  her 
destinat  >n,  in  the  latter  part  of  the  year  1607.  A  brisk  traffic  was 
now  can  ?a  on  with  the  Indians;  and  at  the  request  of  Powhatan, 
Smith  ah  ;  Newport  made  him  a  visit.  "  With  many  pretty  dis- 
courses to  renew  their  old  acquaintance,"  says  the  original  narrative, 
"this  great  King  and  our  Captaine  passed  their  time.  *         * 

Three  or  foure  days  more  we  spent  in  feasting,  dauncing,  and  trading, 
wherein  Powhatan  carried  him.self  so  proudly,  yet  discreetly,  (in  his 
salvage  manner)  as  made  us  all  aflmire  his  nnturall  gifts."  Newport, 
however,  proved  no  match  for  him  at  a  bargain,  and  the  colonists 
would  have  re(x^ived  but  a  pitiful  supply  of  provision  for  their  goods, 
but  for  the  astuteness  of  Smith,  who  contrived,  as  if  by  accident,  to 


THE  SETTLEMENT  OF  VIRGINIA. 


53 


display  before  the  chief  several  flashy  ornaments.  The  fancy  of  hit 
mtgesty  w  >  "'oraderfuUy  struck  with  certain  olue  beads.  "A  long 
time  be  importunately  desired  them,  but  Smith  seemed  so  much  the 
more  to  affect  them,  as  being  composed  of  a  most  rare  substance  of 
the  coloar  of  the  skyes,  and  not  to  be  worne  but  by  the  greatest 
kings  in  the  world.  This  made  him  halfe  madde  to  be  the  owner  of 
such  strange  le wells;  so  that  ere  we  departed,"  says  the  narrator, 
"for  a  pound  or  two  of  blew  beades,  he  brought  over  my  king  for 
2  or  800  Bushelltf  of  corne ;  yet  parted  good  friends."  Other  royal 
families  were  supplied  with  crown  jewels  at  similar  rates,  and  the 
blue  beads -were  held  in  such  veneration  that  none,  e?^c§pt,of  t)he 
bl<x)d-royal,  were  permitted  to  wear  them.      ,,>,•„_      fV!  .    » 

After  their  return,  a  fresh  misfortune  befell  the  colony  in  the  sup- 
posed discovery  of  a  bed  of  gold — which  probably  was  yellow  mica 
or  iron  pyrites — and  to  the  gathering  of  which  the  foolish  colonists, 
with  great  eagerness,  bet^  ok  themselves,  despite  the  passionate  re- 
monstrances of  Smith.  "Never,''  he  says,  "anything  did  more  tor- 
ment him  than  to  see  all  necessary  business  neglected  to  fraught  such 
a  drunken  ship"  (Newport's)  "with  so  much  gilded  durt."  In  the 
spring  of  1608,  the  other  vessel,  the  Phoenix,  which  had  been  blown 
by  a  tempest  to  the  West  Indies,  arrived  with  abundant  supplies  of 
provisions.  She  was  dispatched  home  with  a  load  of  cedar,  the  first 
fruit  reaped  by  England  from  the  natural  wealth  of  the  vast  region 
she  was  attempting  to  occupy. 

Under  the  active  management  of  Smith,  the  colonists  now  set 
themselves  busily  to  work  at  building  and  planting  and  the  colony, 
though  somewhat  menaced  by  the  du'-ious  conduct  of  the  Indians, 
kept  in  check  only  by  the  resolute  conduct  of  the  same  energetic 
leader,  began  to  stand  on  a  basis  of  rational  prosperity.  On  the  2d 
of  June,  the  indefatigable  captain,  with  fourteen  companions,  set  forth 
in  a  barge  on  a  voyage  of  discovery,  and  especially  for  the  purpose 
of  exploring  Chesapeake  Bay.  "Some  visions  of  a  South  Sea  to  be 
attained  and  a  new  channel  opened  to  the  wealthy  regions  of  India, 
may  have  mingled,  it  is  probable,  with  the  more  practical  intention 
of  reducing  these  great  waters  and  their  shores  within  the  limits  of 
geography."  In  the  course  of  this  sur /ey  along  the  ea.otern  shore, 
niuny  Indians  were  encountered,  at  first  timid  or  hostile,  and  finally 
friendly  and  confiding.  After  a  fortnight  of  incessant  labour  and 
exposure,  at  the  mouth  t)f  the  Patapsco,  his  crew  strongly  petitioned 
for  return.     TIk^  weather  had  been  stormy  and  disastrous,   tlieir 


In 


54 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


shirts  had  been  taken  to  make  saIIb,  and  several  of  them  were  sick. 
With  much  regret,  their  leader  consented  id  on  the  16th  of  June 
discovered  the  river  Potomac,  which  he  ascended  for  thirty  miles. 
Here,  we  are  told,  probably  with  extraordinary  exaggeration,  the 
voyagers  found  "all  the  woods  layd  with  ambuscadoes  to  the  number 
of  three  or  foure  thousand  Salvage8,(l)  so  strangely  paynted,  grimed 
and  disguised,  shouting,  yelling,  and  crying,  as  so  many  spirits  from 
hell  could  not  have  showed  more  terrible."  In  spite  of  this  vehe- 
ment demonstration,  they  presently  entered  into  friendly  intercourse 
with  the  English. 

On  their  return  the  latter  were  liberally  supplied  with  game  by 
the  Indians  whom  they  encountered,  .;nd  found  fish  so  plenty  that 
they  attempted  tf>  catch  them  with  a  frying-pan;  but  found  that 
instrument  better  suited  for  their  disposal  out  of  the  water  than  in 
it  At  the  r..ouLh  of  the  Rappchanock,  at  Sting-Ray  Point,  (the 
name  of  which  still  commemorates  the  incident,)  the  gallant  captain 
having  speared  a  fish  with  his  sword,  and  taking  it  off  "(not  knowing 
her  condition)"  was  grievously  stung;  and  such  alarming  symptoms 
ensued  that,  concluding  his  end  was  at  hand,  he  gave  directions  for 
his  funeral,  and  had  his  grave  prepared  in  an  island  hard  by;  yet  by 
means  of  "a  precious  oyle"  applied  by  Russell  the  surgeon,  recov- 
ered so  far  that  he  had  his  revenge  of  the  fish  by  eating  a  piece  of 
it  for  his  supper.  On  the  21st  of  July  the  expedition  returned  to 
Jamestown,  having  made  extensive  surveys,  and  acquired  much 
knowledge  of  the  tribes  inhabiting  the  shores  of  the  Chesapeake. 


TH£  SETTLEMENT  OF  VIBQINIA.  55 

•  .     ,.,    '■  -'     .    ',    -.-.     :    .!.    (:   ,;,:■  'run..  ,j  ..,,,     , 

; ,  ......  ...  .  1.-.  ■    ■  .       - .-.■  .,,,        ,, 

itii    III    i     3,    Jh    Jtl        Y     x« 

SMITH  KADB  PRESIDENT. — HE  RESUMES  THE  SURYEI. — THE 
snSQUEHANNAS.  —  ADVENTURES    WITH     THE    INDIANS. — 
RBMARIABLE    PEAT    OF    SURVEY. — RETURN    TO    JAMES- 
TOWN.—  ARRIVAL    OP    NBWP'   ,T. — ABSURD  INSTRUC- 
TIONS OP  THE  ENGLISH  COMPANY. — THE  CORONATION 
OP    POWHATAN. — UNSUCCESSFUL    ATTEMPT    OF 
NBWPO&I    TO    FIND    THE    bOUTH    SEA. 

While  Smith  was  absent,  the  colony,  as  a  matter  of  course,  bad 
fallen  into  miserable  disorder  and  anarchy.  "The  silly  President," 
Ratcliffe,  had  so  ill-treated  the  colonists,  especially  those  last  arrived, 
that,  in  the  words  of  the  old  chronicler,  "  had  we  not  arrived,  they 
had  strangely  tormented  him  with  revenge:  but  the  good  Newes  of 
our  Discovery,  and  the  good  hope  we  had,  by  the  Salvages'  relation, 
that  our  Bay  stretched  into  the  South  Sea  (1)  or  somewhat  neare  it, 
appeased  their  fury."  Batclifie  was  forthwith  depoeed  from  office, 
and  Smith  elected  in  his  place — "the  place  whichj  from  the  first, 
had  been  due  to  his  superior  judgment  and  experience,  and  which 
had  been  amply  earned  by  his  untiring  devotion  to  the  service  of 
the  colony." 

Fonder  of  enterprise  than  of  ease  or  official  dignity,  at  the  end  of 
three  days,  having  enpointed  a  discieet  deputy  to  fill  his  place,  the 
new  president,  with  twelve  companions,  resumed  his  expedition  of 
survey.  He  first  cnxised  to  the  Patapsco,  having  a  friendly  inter- 
view on  the  way  with  a  party  of  the  powerful  tribe  of  Massawomecs, 
from  the  north;  and  on  the  river  Tockwogh,  hearing  of  another 
tribe,  called  the  Susquehannas,  of  giant-like  stature,  sent  an  invita- 
tion to  them  to  come  and  meet  him.  Accordingly,  sixty  warriors, 
of  herculean  frame,  soon  presented  themselves  before  him.  "Such 
gr3at  and  well  proportioned  men,"  he  says,  "are  seldome  scene,  for 
they  seemed  like  Giants  to  the  English,  yet  seemed  of  a  honest  and 
simple  disposition,  with  much  adoe  restrained  from  adoring  us  as 
gods.  *  *  *  For  their  language,  it  may  well  bese  me  their  pro- 
portions, sounding  from  them  as  a  voyce  in  a  vault.  *  The  picture 
of  the  greatest  of  them  is  signified  in  the  Mappe,  the  calfe  of  whose 
leg  was  three-quarters  of  a  yard  about,  and  all  the  rest  of  his  limbs 


m 

■ 

il 

^- 

^ 

kM 

irl  ' 

J 

56 


THE  PEOPLE'S   BOOK   OF  HISTORY. 


BO  answerable  to  that  proportion,  that  be  seemed  the  goodliest  man 
we  ever  beheld."  These  splendid  savages  were  fittingly  dressed  in 
the  skins  of  wolves  and  bears,  so  worn  as  much  to  resemble  the 
natural  ferocious  appearance  of  the  animals. 

Their  veneration  for  Smith,  whose  reputation  had  doubtlese  pre- 
ceded him,  was  almost  unbounded.  "There  seems  to  have  been  a 
natural  dignity,  kindness,  and  manhood  in  his  demeanor,  which 
invariably  was  sufficient  to  overawe  or  conciliate  the  rudest  tribea 
which  he  encountered."  "Our  order,"  says  the  journal  of  the  voy- 
age, "was  daily  to  have  prayer,  with  a  Psalme,  at  which  solamnitie 
the  poor  Salvages  much  wondred;  our  Prayers  beir-  done,  a  while 
they  were  busied  with  a  consultaion  till  they  had  contrived  their 
businesse.  Then  they  began  in  a  most  passionate  manner  to  hold 
vp  their  handes  to  the  Sunne,  with  a  most  fearefuU  Song,  then 
embracing  our  Captaine,  they  began  to  adore  nira  in  like  manner; 
though  he  rebuked  them,  yet  they  proceeded  till  their  Song  was 
finished;  which  done,  with  a  most  strange  furious  action  and  a  hell- 
ish voyce,  began  an  Oration  of  their  loves;  that  (.nded,  with  a  great 
painted  Bearus  skin  they  covered  him;  then  one  ready  with  a  great 
chayne  of  white  Beades,  weighing  at  least  six  or  seaven  poundes, 
hung  it  about  his  necke,  the  others  had  18  mantles,  made  of  divers 
kinds  of  skinnes,  sowed  together;  all  these,  with  many  other  toyes 
they  layed  at  his  feete,  stroking  their  ceremonious  hands  about  his 
necke,  to  be  their  Governour  and  Protector." 

Passing  up  the  Rappahannock,  the  voyagers  were  attacked  by 
hostile  savages,  who,  "accommodating  themselves  with  branches," 
showered  volleys  of  arrows  on  their  barge.  One  of  these,  being 
wounded,  was  taken  by  the  English,  and  was  asked  why  his  people 
showed  such  enmity  to  peaceful  strangers — to  which,  says  the  nar- 
rative, "the  poore  Salvage  mildly  answered  that  they  heard  we  were 
a  people  come  from  under  the  world  to  take  their  world  from  them. 
*  *  Then  we  asked  him  what  was  beyond  the  mountains,  he 
answered  the  Sunne;  but  of  anything  ela  he  knew  nothing,  because 
the  woodes  were  not  burnt." 

In  the  course  of  this  protracted  expedition.  Smith  completed  tho 
survey  of  the  shores  of  Chesapeake  Bay,  of  which  he  made  an  ac- 
curate chart,  and  acquircnl  much  other  useful  information.  A  brief 
but  interesting  account  of  the  country  and  the  various  tribes  encoun- 
tered, was  alrto  drawn  up,  and  on  the  7th  of  September,  after  au 
".bsonce  of  three  months,  (excepting  the  short  visit  in  July,  when  he 


THE    SETTLEMENT   OF  VIBOINIA. 


57 


was  made  president,)  and  a  voyage  of  some  three  thousand  miles, 
he  returned  to  Jamestown  with  his  little  craft  deeply  laden  with 
provisions.  Three  days  after  he  was  formally  invested  with  his 
office  and  title.  Sickness  had  prevailed,  and  many  more  of  the 
unfortunate  settlers  had  perished  in  his  absence. 

Captain  Newport  soon  arrived  again,  bringing  seventy  additional 
colonists,  some  of  them  persons  of  consideration.  Two  English- 
women, a  Mrs.  Forrest  and  maid,  were  the  first  females  who  came 
to  the  colony,  and  there  were  also  eight  Poles  or  Germans,  sent  to 
make  tar,  glass,  and  potash.  The  English  company,  irritated  and 
disappointed  in  the  failure  of  their  extravagant  expectations,  had 
ordered  the  unfortunate  captain  "  not  to  returne  without  a  lumpe  of 
golde,  a  certaintie  of  the  South  Sea,  or  one  of  the  lost  companie  sent 
out  by  Sir  Walter  Kaleigh."  Accordingly,  he  had  brought  a  great 
barge,  built  in  separate  pieces,  which  was  to  be  carried  over  the 
mountains  of  the  West,  (the  Blue  Ridge,)  and  thence  launched  into 
some  rivei  flowing  into  the  Pacific !  "  If  he  had  burnt  her  to  ashes," 
writes  Smith,  indignantly  remonstrating  with  the  company,  "one 
might  have  carried  her  in  a  bag  (but  as  she  is,  five  hundred  cannot) 
to  a  navigable  place  above  the  Falls.  And  for  him  at  that  time  to 
find  in  the  South  Sea  a  Mine  of  Golde,  or  any  of  them  sent  by  Sir 
Walter  Raleigh  1  at  our  Consultation  I  told  them  was  as  likely 
as  the  rest." 

To  propitiate  Powhatan^  and  thus  secure  a  free  passage  to  the 
Pacific  and  the  gold  mine,  these  gentlemen  had  dispatched  to  him 
certain  ro}  alties,  consisting  of  a  basin  and  ewer,  a  bed  and  furniture, 
a  chair  of  state,  a  suit  of  scarlet,  a  cloak  and  a  crown — the  latter 
purporting  to  be  a  present  from  his  fellow-sovereign,  the  king  of 
England.  Smith,  after  vainly  protesting  against  these  absurdities, 
finding  tho  new-comers  resolute  to  prosecute  their  plan,  did  his  best 
tu  aid  them.  He  posted,  with  only  four  attendants,  to  Werowoco- 
moco,  where,  in  the  absence  of  Powhatan,  Pocahontas,  with  thirty 
of  her  muidoiis,  entertained  him  with  a  quaint  masquerade  and  a 
feast,  "of  all  the  Salvage  dainties  they  could  devise,"  and  treated 
liiin  witii  the  highest  honour  and  affection.  The  chief,  on  his  arrival, 
being  invited  to  proceed  to  Jamestown  and  be  invested  with  his 
regalia,  ''  was  taken  with  a  sudden  fit  of  dignity  or  suspicion,"  and  to 
the  courteous  urgency  of  Smith,  replied,  "If  your  king  have  sent 
me  Presents,  I  also  am  a  King,  and  this  is  my  land;  eight  days  I 
will  stay  to  receive  them.     Your  Father"  (Newport)  "is  to  come  to 


58 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


me,  not  I  to  him,  nor  yet  to  your  fort,  neither  will  I  bite  &t  such  a 
bait.      *      *      As  for  any  salt  water  beyond  the  mountains,  the 
Relations  you  have  had  from  my  people  are  false,"  and  sitting  down 
he  began  to  draw  maps,  on  the  ground,  of  all  the  adjacent  regions. 

Smith  and  Newport,  to  humour  his  obstinacy,  accordingly,  witli 
the  presents  and  a  guard  of  fifty  men,  repaired  to  Werowocomoco. 
The  solemn  coronation  of  Powhatan,  which  took  place  the  day  after 
their  arrival,  is  described  with  much  dry  humour  in  the  old  narrative. 
His  majesty  seems  to  have  had  some  conception  of  the  humbug  of 
the  thing,  or  perhaps  a  strong  distrust  of  the  English,  or  a  dread 
of  necromancy.  His  furniture  having  been  properly  set  up,  we  are 
told,  "  his  scarlet  Cloke  and  Apparell  were  with  much  adoe  put  on 
him,  being  perswaded  by  Namonf'irk*  they  would  not  hurt  him- 
but  a  foule  trouble  there  was  to  make  him  kneela  to  receive  his 
Crowne,  he  neither  knowing  the  maiesty  nor  meaning  of  a  Crowne 
nor  bending  of  the  knee,  endured  so  raauy  perswnsions,  exarnplee 
and  instructions  as  tyred  them  all;  at  lust,  by  leaning  hard  on  his 
shoulders,  he  a  little  stooped,  and  three,  having  the  Crowne  in  their 
hands,  put  it  on  his  head,  when,  by  the  warning  of  a  Pistol),  the 
Boats  were  prepared  with  such  a  volley  of  shot,  that  the  King  started 
up  in  a  horrible  feare,  till  he  saw  that  all  was  well." 

This  august  ceremony  accomplished,  Newport,  despite  the  warn- 
ings of  the  king,  with  one  hundred  and  twenty  men,  in  "his  great 
five-peeced  barge,"  set  forth  to  ascend  the  James  River  in  quest  of 
his  lump  of  gold  and  the  South  Sea.  The  boat  was  stopped  by  the 
Falls,  and  the  company,  after  getting  by  land  about  forty  miles  fur- 
ther, and  suffering  much  from  toil  and  exposure,  were  compelled  to 
return  to  Jamestown.  On  their  arrival.  Captain  Smith  set  them  at 
work  at  various  useful  occupations,  such  as  cutting  down  trees  and 
hewing  timber,  taking  the  lead  himself,  and  making  labour  pleasant 
by  good-nature  and  merriment 

*  Newport,  on  his  former  visit,  had  presented  Powhatan  with  a  boy  named  Salvage, 
and  the  chief,  in  return,  had  given  him  **  NamoiUack,  his  trustie  servant,  and  one  of  n 
•nruwd,  subtile  eapacitie." 


TUE  SETTLEMENT  OF  VIBQIVflA.  59 


xl  .n.  r   1   £1  A     Y    X  X. 

PLOT  AGAINST  SMITH. — HIS  LETTER  TO  THE  COMPANY.  —  HIS 
RPP0RT8  TO  SUPPORT  THE   COLONY. — EXPEDITION   TO  SUR- 
PRISE   POWHATAN.  —  ARTFUL    SPEECHES,   AND    MUTUAL 
TREACHERY. —  THE  ENGLISH  AGAIN  SATED  BY  POCAHONTAa 

To  meet  the  scarcity  of  provisions,  which  again  menaced  tho 
colony,  Smith  again  ascended  the  Chickahominy,  and  brought  back 
a  great  store  of  corn.  Newport  and  Batclifie,  in  his  absence,  had 
plotted  to  depose  him ;  but,  we  are  told,  "their  homes  were  so  much 
too  short  to  effect  it,  as  they  themselves  more  narrowly  escaped  a 
greater  mischiefe."  lie  finally  dispatched  home  a  ship  freighted  with 
the  products  of  the  country,  and  in  a  letter  to  the,  company,  besought 
a  supply  of  mechanics  and  labourers.  Complaining  of  the  misrep- 
resentations of  Newport,  he  adds,  "Now  that  you  should  know  I 
have  made  you  as  great  a  discovery  as  he,  for  a  lesse  charge  than 
he  spendeth  you  every  meale,  I  have  sent  you  this  Mappe  of  the 
Bav  and  Rivera,  with  an  annexed  Relation  of  the  Countries  and 
Nations  that  inhabit  them,  as  you  may  see."  They  had  complained 
that  they  were  kept  in  ignorance  of  the  country,  to  which  he  stiffly 
replies,  "I  desire  but  to  know  what  either  you  or  these  here  doe 
know,  but  what  I  have  learned  to  tell  you,  at  the  continuall  hazard 
of  my  life." 

In  the  ensuing  winter,  scarcity  again  prevailed,  and  the  president, 
by  repeated  excursions  among  the  Indians,  sleeping,  with  his  attend' 
auts,  in  the  snow,  gained  a  scanty  and  precarious  supply.  The 
colony  at  length  being  in  danger  of  starvation,  he  came  to  the  rash 
and  unscrupulous  rcvsolution  of  seizing  the  stores  of  Powhatan  and 
making  prisoner  of  that  chief  himself.  On  the  29th  of  December, 
he  set  forth  up  the  river,  ^^  ith  three  boats  and  fort}  .six  volunteers, 
and  on  his  way  dispatched  Mr.  Sicklemore,  ("a  very  valiant,  honest, 
and  painefuli  Souldier,")  with  two  more,  on  an  unsuccessful  search 
for  the  lost  colony  of  Raleigh.  Arriving  at  Werowocomoco,  he  was 
well  entertained  by  Powhatan,  who,  however,  was  well  apprized  of 
his  hostile  intention,  having  been  informed  of  it  by  the  Germans, 
who  IkuI  been  sent  to  build  him  a  house.  Much  parley  ensued,  each 
professing  much  friendship,  and  endeavouring  to  take  the  other  at  a 


60 


THE   PEOPLE'S   BOOK   OP   UIBTORY. 


disadvantage,  and  Powhatan  made  a  set  speech,  "expostulating  tho 
difference  between  Peace  and  Warre." 

"Cnptaine  Smith,"  he  said,  "you  may  understand  that,  having 
scene  the  death  of  all  my  people  thrice,  and  not  any  one  living  of 
those  three  generations  but  myselfe,  I  know  the  difference  of  Peaci! 
and  Warre  better  than  any  in  my  country.  But  now  I  am  old,  nnd 
ere  long  must  die.  #  #  »  Think  vou  I  am  so  simple 
OS  not  to  know  it  is  better  to  eate  good  men  lye  well,  and  sleep 
q'  'utly  with  my  women  uiid  children,  laugh  and  be  merry  with  you 
have  copper,  hatchets,  or  what  I  want,  being  your  friend;  than  be 
forced  to  flye  from  all,  to  lye  cold  in  the  woods,  feede  upon  Aoornes 
rootes,  and  such  trash,  and  be  bo  hunted  by  you  that  I  can  neither 
rest,  cate,  nor  sleepe;  but  my  tyred  men  must  watch,  and  if  a  twig 
but  breake,  every  one  cryeth,  'there  commeth  Captaine  Smith ;^  then 
must  I  fly  I  know  not  whither,  and  thus  with  miserable  Ibare  end 
my  miserable  life."  He  then  endeavoured  to  persuade  the  English 
to  lay  Jiside  their  arms,  intending  to  surprise  them;  and  on  their 
refusal,  heaving  a  deep  sigh,  "breathed  his  mind  once  more,"  in  ar- 
ful  persuosions  to  the  same  effect,  and  reminded  Smith  how  he  had 
always  called  him  his  father.  "I  call  you  father,  indeed,"  said  his 
guest,  "and  as  a  father  you  shall  see  I  will  love  yon ;  but  the  small 
care  you  have  of  such  a  childe,  caused  my  men  to  perswade  me  to 
looke  to  myselfe." 

Meanwhile,  he  privately  sent  for  his  soldiers  at  the  boats  to  land 
quickly  and  surprise  the  chief;  but  the  latter,  forewarned  of  their 
movements,  retreated  into  the  woods,  and  his  warriors,  in  great 
number,  closed  around  the  house.  But  Smith,  rushing  among  them 
with  sword  and  target,  made  good  his  exit,  and  Powhatan,  says  tlie 
narrative,  "to  excuse  his  flight  and  the  sudden  coming  of  this  multi- 
tude, sent  our  Captaine  a  great  bracelet  and  a  chaine  of  pearl,  by  an 
ancient  Oratour," — who  had  charge,  with  plausible  explanations,  to 
smooth  the  affair  over.  The  captain  had  purchased  a  quantity  of  corn, 
which  the  Indians  carried  to  his  barge,  and  prepared  to  pass  the 
night  in  the  village.  Powhatan,  "bursting  with  desire  to  have  his 
head,"  meanwhile,  laid  a  deep  plot  for  the  destruction  of  the  intruders. 
"Notwithstanding,"  continues  the  old  narrative,  "the  eternall  all 
seeing  God  did  prevent  him,  and  by  a  strange  meanes.  For  Poca- 
iiontas,  his  dearest  iewcll  and  daughter,  in  that  darke  night  came 
tlirongh  the  irksome  woodes,  and  told  our  Captaine  groat  chcare 
should  be  sent  us  by  and  by;  but  Powhatan  and  all  the  power  he 


r 


THE  SETTLEMENT  OF  VIRGINIA. 


61 


oould  make  would  after  come  kill  us  all,  if  thoy  that  brought  it 
could  not  kill  us  with  our  owne  weapons  when  we  were  at  supper. 
Therefore,  if  we  would  live,  shee  wished  us  presently  to  bo  gone. 
Such  things  08  she  delighted  in  he  would  have  given  her;  but  with 
the  teares  running  downe  her  cheekes,  she  said  she  durst  not  bo 
scene  to  have  any,  for  if  Powhatan  should  know  it,  she  were  but 
dead;  so  shee  ranne  awoy  by  herselfe  as  she  came."  "     '  '■■■ 

In  the  evening,  according  to  tho  plot,  a  number  of  savages,  bear- 
ing great  platters  of  venison  and  other  refreshments,  came  to  the 
quarters  of  the  English.  With  much  civility,  they  requested  the 
latter  to  put  out  the  matches  of  their  guns,  alleging  that  the  smoke 
made  them  sick;  but  the  intended  victims  only  redoubled  their  pre- 
cautions against  surprise,  and  Powhatan,  who  sent  messenger  after 
messenger  to  learn  the  ♦ate  of  affairj,  at  length  despaired  of  finding 
them  off  their  guard,  and  relinquished  his  design.  The  next  morn- 
ing the  uninvited  visitors  took  their  departure.  *'  It  certainly  cannot 
be  regretted  that  this  attempt  of  Smith  to  seize  the  person  and 
property  of  the  chief  who  had  formerly  spared  his  life  should  have 
been  unsuccessful." 


tiiiAiilijii     Vxxl. 

THE  PLOT    AT    PAMUNKET;     DEFEATED    BY    THE    DARING   AND 
ENERGY     OP     SMITH.  —  THE     COLONY     SUPPLIED.  —  fTMITH 
POISONED.  —  HIS   UNSCRUPULOUS   POLICY. — HIS  FIGHT 
WITH    THE    KINO    OP    PASPAHEOH.  —  "PRETTY    AC- 
CIDENTS"   AMONG    THE    INDIANS. 

At  Pamunkey,  the  seat  of  Opechancanongh,  whithu  ^hey  next 
repaired,  liberal  entertainment  was  provided  for  the  Ei;^''ib,  and  a 
plot  for  their  destruction  was  again  concerted.  At  the  hou.se  of 
that  chief,  Smith,  with  only  fifteen  companions,  was  finally  sur- 
rounded by  a  force  of  seven  hundred  armed  warriors;  his  host, 
"with  a  Btrjfined  cheerful nesso,"  holding  him  engaged  in  talk  the 
while.  On  seeing  his  situation,  the  captain,  in  a  stirring  little  speech, 
exhorted  his  people  "to  fight  like  men  and  not  die  like  sheepe,"  and 
then,  telling  his  treacherous  host,  "I  see  your  plot  to  murder  me. 


-i 


I' 


62 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


but  I  feare  it  not,"  defied  him  to  single  combat  Besides  his  life,  ho 
ofTcred  to  stake  on  the  issue  any  amount  of  copper  against  the  same 
value  in  corn — "and  our  Game,"  he  said,  "shall  be,  the  Conquerour 
take  all."  But  the  chief,  declining  this  handsome  proposal,  endeav- 
oured to  induce  his  guest  to  venture  forth,  on  pretence  of  bestowing 
on  him  a  rich  present,  thirty  of  the  savages  lying  in  ambush  behind 
a  great  log  to  shoot  him. 

Apprized  of  this  design,  the  incensed  captain,  "in  a  rage  snatched 
the  king  by  his  long  locke  in  the  middest  of  his  men,"  clapped  a 
pistol  to  his  breast,  and  led  him  forth  before  the  multitude  of  his 
warriors.  The  chief  then  "bestowed  his  presents  in  good  sadnease," 
his  people,  fearing  for  his  life,  making  no  resistance;  and  Smith 
"still  holding  the  King  by  the  hayre,"  addressed  the  assembled 
savages  with  stern  reproaches.  "If  you  shoote  but  one  Arrow,"  he 
concluded,  "to  shed  one  drop  of  bloud  of  any  of  my  men,  or  steale 
the  leaste  of  these  Beades  and  Copper  which  I  spurne  here  before 
me  with  my  foote;  you  shall  see  I  will  not  cease  revenge  (if  once  I 
begin)  so  long  as  I  can  heare  to  find  one  of  your  Nation  that  will 
not  deny  the  name  of  Pamaunk.  I  am  not  now  at  Kassaweak,  half 
drowned  with  myre,  where  you  tooke  me  prisoner.  You  promised 
to  fraught  my  ship  ere  I  departed,  and  so  you  shall,  or  I  will  loade 
her  with  your  dead  carcasses."  This  "  angry  parle,"  however,  he 
ended  more  mildly,  offering  the  release  of  their  chief  and  his  own 
friendship,  if  they  would  fulfil  their  agreements.  Struck,  it  would 
seem,  with  equal  awe  and  admiration,  the  Indians  laid  aside  their 
weapons,  and  began  to  bring  in  great  store  of  provisions,  and  sin- 
gularlyenough,  yet,  from  repeated  experience,  not  improbably,  they 
appear  to  have  fulfilled  their  agreement  with  real  cordiality. 

Meanwhile,  affairs  at  Jamestown  had  gone  ill,  Scrivener,  the 
deputy,  with  ten  others,  having  been  drowned,  on  a  stormy  day,  in 
a  boat.  The  life  of  the  messenorer  sent  with  the  disastrous  tidin'^H 
to  Werowocomoco,  was  only  saved  by  the  compassion  of  Pocahontas, 
who  contrived  to  hide  him  from  the  executioners.  The  contest  of 
their  wits  was  presently  renewed  between  Smith  and  Powhatan,  the 
former  endeavouring  to  surprise  that  chief  and  seize  his  store  of 
provisions,  (a  plan  again  defeated  by  "those  damned  Dutchmen," 
says  the  indignant  rarrator,)  and  the  latter  leaving  no  means  untried 
to  take  the  life  of  his  redoubted  foe.  Ilis  people  not  daring  to  attack 
the  Knglisli  openly,  an  attempt  was  made  to  poison  them,  whicli 
however,  only  had  the  effect  to  make  Smith  and  some  others  disu- 


THE  SETTLEMENT   OF   VIRGINIA. 


63 


greeably  but  not  dangerously  sick.  "  Wecuttanow,  a  stout  young 
fellow,  knowing  he  was  suspected  of  bringing  this  present  of  poyson, 
with  fortie  or  fiftie  of  his  chiefe  companions,  (seeing  the  President 
with  but  a  few  men  at  Potauncok,)  so  proudly  braved  it,  as  though 
he  expected  to  incounter  a  revenge. — Which  the  President  perceiv- 
ing, in  the  midst  of  his  company  did  not  onely  beate,  but  spurns 
him  like  a  dogge,  as  scorning  to  doe  him  any  worse  mischiefe." 

The  company  finally  returned  to  Jamestown  with  five  hundred 
bushels  of  com^  obtained  by  long  foraging  and  traffic  among  the 
various  tribes.  A  portion,  we  regret  to  say,  was  wrested  by  violence 
from  its  possessors,  and  it  is  to  be  lamented  that  Smith,  who  cer- 
tainly had  a  generous  and  compassionate  heart,  should  have  suffered 
considerations  of  policy  or  reprisal  to  commit  him  in  a<'ts  which 
doubtless  leave  a  shade  upon  his  memory.  The  old  chronicler  of  the 
expedition,  however,  seems  to  have  viewed  the  matter  in  &  very  dif- 
ferent light,  and  even  takes  much  pains  to  exculpate  the  party  from 
the  charge  of  blameable  moderation,  which,  he  fears,  "the  blind 
world's  ignorant  censure  "  might  impute  to  them.  "  These  temporizing 
proceedings,"  he  says,  "  to  some  may  seem  too  charitable,  to  such  a 
daily  daring,  trecherous  people;  to  others  not  pleasing  that  we 
washed  not  the  ground  with  their  blonds,  nor  showed  such  strange 
inventions  in  mangling,  murdering,  ransacking,  and  destroying  (as 
did  the  Spanyards)  the  simple  bodies  of  such  ignorant  soules." 

The  dread  of  starvation  removed  by  this  abundant  supply.  Smith 
set  the  colonists  at  work  at  various  useful  occupations,  keeping  a 
table  of  their  merits  or  demerits,  and  strictly  enforcing  the  required 
tasks — "for  there  was  no  excuse  could  prevaile  to  deceive  him." 
Fresh  troubles  with  the  savages,  excited  by  the  Germans,  soon  broke 
out,  and  Smith,  incautiously  travelling  alone,  with  no  weapon  but 
his  sword,  again  had  occasion  to  show  all  his  manhood  in  defending 
his  head.  An  ambuscade  of  forty  warriors  had  been  prepared  to 
intercept  him.  "By  the  way  he  incountred  the  King  of  Paspahegh, 
a  most  stout  strong  Salvage,  whose  perswasions  not  being  able  to 
perswade  him  to  his  Ambush,  seeing  him  onely  armed  but  with  a 
faucheon"  (falchion)  "attempted  to  have  shot  him,  but  the  President 
prevented  his  shooting  by  grapling  with  him,  and  the  Salvage  as 
well  prevented  his  drawing  his  faucheon,  and  perforce  bore  him  into 
the  River  to  have  drowned  him.  Long  they  struggled  in  the  water, 
till  the  President  got  such  a  hold  on  his  throat,  he  had  nearo  stran- 
gled the  King;  but  having  drawne  his  faucheon  to  cut  off  his  head. 
Vol.  IV.-  S3 


'^^S 


64 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


seeing  how  pitifully  he  begged  his  life,  he  led  him  prisoner  to  lamoa 
Towne  and  put  him  in  chaynes."  Encounters  with  the  hostile 
tribe,  resulting  in  a  more  sanguinary  manner,  were  finally  ended 
by  treaty.  The  Indians  had  been  eager,  by  theft  or  under-handed 
dealings,  to  procure  arms  and  ammunition;  but  it  so  happened 
that  in  drying  a  quantity  of  gun-powder  on  a  piece  of  armour  over 
the  fire,  it  exploded,  to  their  terrible  injury,  so  that  by  "this  and 
many  such  pretty  Accidents,"  we  are  told,  they  took  a  wholesome 
distrust  of  the  dangerous  commodity,  and  adopted  an  attitude  of  con- 
ciliation toward  the  colonists. 


♦. 

IDLENESS  OP   THE  SETTLERS. — ELOQUENT  SPEECH  AND  yiOOROUS 
POLICY   OF    SMITH. — THE    NEW   VIRGINIA    COMPANY.  —  UNJD8T 
ASSUMPTION   OF   POWER. — SMITH   DEPOSED. — GREAT  EX- 
PEDITION  DISPATCHED   FROM   ENGLAND;   ILL-FORTDNB. 
—  ARRIVAL   OP   NUMEROUS   IMMIGRANTS. — ANARCHY. 
—  SMITH    REaSSUMES    THE    PRESIDENCY. 


By  the  energy  of  their  brave  and  industrious  president,  the  Vir- 
ginian colonists  had  been  amply  supplied  wi^h  food  and  shelter;  and 
additional  buildings  and  more  extended  agriculture  betokened  the 
prosperity  of  the  settlement  Destruction  of  their  store,,  by  rotting 
and  the  rats,  renewed  former  privations,  and  reawakened  the  old 
mutinous  and  discontented  spirit  By  the  assistance  of  the  In- 
dians, and  by  fishing  and  gathering  the  natural  products  of  the 
country,  a  number  of  the  more  industrious  continued  to  keep  the 
settlement  from  starvation.  "But  such  was  the  strange  condition 
of  some  150,  that  had  they  not  been  forced,  nolens  volens,  to  gather 
and  prepare  their  victuall,  they  would  all  have  starved  or  eaten  one 
another."  "These  distracted  Gluttonous  Loyterera"  would  fain  have 
sold  to  the  Indians  f  'ery  utensil  of  labour  or  defence,  for  a  p'ttance 
of  corn,  and  omitted  no  means  of  cunning  and  mutinous  demeanour 
to  compel  the  president  to  break  up  the  settlement  and  return  to 
England. 

Out  of  patience  at  their  ill-behaviour,  he  finally  resorted  to  severe 
tiu.i.surcs.     In  a  summary  manner  he  punished  the  chief  ringleader, 


THE   SETTLEMENT   OF  VIRGINIA. 


65 


"one  Dyer,  a  most  crafty  fellow  and  his  ancient  Maligner,"  and 
made  a  speech  of  severe  admonition,  evidently  carefully  modelled  on 
his  favourite  classics,  to  the  rest.  "Fellow-soldiers,"  he  said,  "I  did 
little  think  any  so  false  to  report,  or  so  many  to  be  so  simple  as 
to  be  perswaded,  that  I  either  intend  to  starve  you,  or  that  Powhatan 
at  this  present  hath  come  for  himselfe,  much  lesse  for  you;  or  that 
I  would  not  have  it,  if  I  knew  where  it  were  to  be  had.  Neither 
did  I  thinke  any  so  malitious  as  I  now  see  a  great  many ;  yet  it  shall 
not  so  passionate  me  but  1  will  doe  my  best  for  my  most  maligner. 
But  dream  no  longer  of  this  vaine  hope  from  Powhatan,  nor  that  I 
will  longer  forbeare  to  force  you  from  your  Idlenesse,  and  punish 
you  if  you  rayle.  But  if  I  find  any  more  runners  for  Newfoundland 
with  the  Pinnace,  let  them  assuredly  looke  to  arive  at  the  Gallows. 

"You  cannot  deny  but  that  by  the  hazerd  of  my  life  many  a  time 
I  have  saved  yours,  when  (might  your  own  wills  have  prevailed) 
you  would  have  starved.  But  I  protest  by  that  God  that  made  me, 
since  necessitie  hath  not  power  to  force  you  to  gather  for  yourselves 
those  fruites  the  earth  doth  yeeld,  you  shall  not  onely  gather  for 
your  selves,  but  for  those  that  are  sicke.  As  yet,  I  never  had  more 
from  the  store  than  the  wo;jt  of  you;  and  all  my  English  extraor- 
dinary provision  that  I  have,  you  shall  see  me  divide  it  among 
the  sicke. 

"And  this  Salvage  trash  you  so  scomefully  repine  at,  being  put 
in  your  mouths,  your  stomachs  can  digest  it.  If  you  would  have 
better,  you  should  have  brought  it;  and  therefore  I  will  take  a  course 
that  you  shall  provide  what  is  to  be  had.  The  sicke  shall  not  starve, 
but  share  equally  of  all  our  labors,  and  he  that  gathereth  not  every 
day  as  much  as  I  doe,  the  next  day  shall  be  set  beyond  the  river, 
and  be  banished  from  the  Fort  as  a  drone,  till  he  amend  his  condi- 
tions or  starve." 

This  stern  and  summary  policy  had  the  required  effect,  and  the 
colonists  set  to  work  collecting  the  natural  fruits  of  the  country  with 
such  diligence  that  their  condition  was  speedily  improved.  In  the 
spring  of  1609,  Captain  Samuel  Argall  (afterwards  governor)  arrived 
in  a  vessel  well  loaded  with  supplies,  which  the  settlers  converted 
.J  their  own  use,  restitution  being  afterwards  made.  This  arrival 
Drought  tidings  of  an  important  character. 

Disappointed  and  irritated  by  what  they  considered  the  inexcusa- 
ble neglect  of  their  agents  in  failing  to  discover  a  gold  mine  or  a 
passage  to  the  Pacific,  the  Virginia  Company  visited  the  whole 


( ( 


66 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


weight  of  their  displeasure  on  the  head  of  Captain  Smith.  "Hia 
necessarily  firm  and  rigorous  rule  had  made  him  many  enemies- 
and  the  bluntness  and  plain-spoken  truth  of  his  communications  had 
shocked  the  dignity  of  the  authorities  at  home.  They  resolved  to 
depose  him  from  the  command  of  the  colony,  which  his  almost  un- 
aided exertions  had  so  repeatedly  preserved  from  destruction,  and 
the  true  value  of  which  their  short-sighted  rapacity  prevented  them 
from  appreciating." 

To  gratify  persons  of  wealth  and  influence  who  had  joined  the 
company,  in  May,  1609,  a  new  charter  was  obtained,  granting  abso- 
lute power  uf  control  over  Virginia  to  the  patentees,  and  unjustly 
depriving  the  colonists  of  even  the  shadow  of  self-government.  Lord 
Delaware  was  appointed  captain-general,  and  a  host  of  inferior  offi. 
cers,  with  high-sounding  titles,  were  also  created  for  the  benefit  of 
the  poverty-stricken  colony.  In  the  same  month,  nine  ships,  com- 
manded by  Newport,  and  carrying  five  hundred  people,  under 
command  of  Sir  Thomas  Gates  and  Sir  George  Somers,  sailed  from 
England,  leaving  Delaware  to  follow  with  fresh  recruits.  These  three 
dignitaries,  by  a  singular  piece  of  folly,  all  embarked  in  the  same  ship 
with  all  their  papers,  and  a  great  part  of  the  provisions.  In  the 
latter  part  of  July,  this  vessel, "  in  the  tayle  of  a  Hericano  "  (hurricane) 
was  driven  from  the  squadron  and  wrecked  on  the  Bermudas.  An- 
other foundered  at  sea,  and  the  rest,  in  most  miserable  plight,  and 
without  any  general  commander,  arrived  finally  at  Jamestown. 

Their  arrival  was  the  signal  for  fresh  disorders.  Most  of  the  new 
amigranta,  it  wouid  seem,  were  in  a  manner  the  refuse  of  the  com- 
munity— "much  fitter  to  spoil  a  commonwealth  than  to  raise  or 
maintain  one."  In  "this  lewd  company,"  it  is  said,  were  "many 
unruly  Gallants,  packed  thither  by  their  friends  to  escape  ill-desti- 
nies"— broken  down  gentlemen,  bankrupt  tradesmen,  and  decayed 
serving-men.  Smith  having  been  deposed  by  the  authorities,  and 
their  oflBcers  having  been  shipwrecked  on  the  Bermudas,  there  was 
no  regular  government,  and  the  people  soon  fell  into  a  state  of  an- 
archy, setting  up  and  palling  down  their  authorities  almost  daily, 
and  modelling  the  government  after  their  changeable  caprico  and 
fancy.  In  this  strait,  the  mooe  B<?n8ible  entreated  Smith  to  jciume 
the  coinmand,  h<;  ing  that  no  one  had  yet  arrived  to  displace  him. 
lie  consented  with  reluctance,  and  a  vigorous  exertion  of  his  wonted 
authority  soon  reduced  these  unruly  spirita  to  something  like  order 
and  obedience. 


,.,.,,.}  '.l-.ll 


THE  SETTLEMENT   OP  VIRGINIA. 


CTT    A    D  no   P  T)      "V 


67 


FUTIIE  ATTEMPTS  AT  FOUNDING  NEW  8BTTIEMBNT8. — POLLY 

AND    OBSTINACY    OP    THE  COLONISTS. SMITH   TERRIBLY 

INJURED.  —  HE     RETURNS     TO     ENGLAND. — HIS    SER- 
j     ,f     VICES  TO  THE  COLONY. — AWFUL  SUFFERING   AND 
,   ,    !  MORTALITY    AFTER    HIS    DEPARTURE.    " 

Jamestown  being  overcrowded,  it  was  now  thought  best  to  plant 
other  settiemeuts,  and  a  hundred  and  twenty  men,  under  Martin, 
attempted  to  found  a  colony  at  Nansemond;  but  from  the  inefficiency 
of  their  commander  and  the  hostility  of  the  Indians,,  the  scheme 
proved  a  pompletc  failure.  A  like  number,  under  Captain  West, 
proceeded  to  t'^e  Falls  of  James  River,  where  they  pitched  upon  a 
spou  exposed  to  inundations  and  othf'T  inconveniences.  To  provide 
them  a  better  locality.  Smith  agreed  with  Powhatan  for  the  purchase 
of  his  town  of  the  same  name,  hard  by,  with  its  fort  and  all  the 
houses:  "but  both  this  excellent  place  and  those  good  conditions 
did  these  furies  refuse,  contemning  both  him,  his  kinde  care  and 
authoritie."  To  persuade  them  to  reason,  he  repaired  thither  with 
only  five  companions,  but  was  compelled  by  their  violence  to  betake 
himself  to  his  barge,  where,  for  nine  days,  he  waited,  hoping  to  find 
them  more  sensible,  and  much  troubled  at  hearing  the  continual 
complaints  of  their  violence  and  injustice  made  by  the  neighbouring 
Indians.  He  finally  sailed  down  the  river,  but  was  presently  re- 
called by  news  that  the  savages  had  attacked  them  and  killed  a 
number.  Hastening  back,  he  found  them  submissive  enough,  and 
removed  them  to  the  quarters  he  had  selected,  at  Pow.iatan,  where, 
indeed,  they  did  not  long  remiin,  resuming,  with  strange  obstinacy, 
their  ill-chosen  position. 

The  captain,  as  he  returned,  met  with  terrible  injury  froni  the 
explosion  of  a  bag  of  gun-powder,  which  caught  fire  while  he  was 
asleep,  burning  him  severely,  and  setting  fire  to  his  clothes.  He 
jumped  overboard  to  quench  them,  and  was  with  difficulty  saved 
from  drowning.  Carried  in  this  wretcued  condition,  for  a  hundred 
miles,  to  Jamestown,  ivithout  the  aid  of  surgery,  he  w  laid  pros- 
trate on  a  bed  of  sickncas,  and  some  of  the  malcontents,  it  is  said, 
"seeing  the  President  unable  to  stand,  and  neere  berefl  of  his  senses 


I  ! 


Pi  ! 


r 


08 


Tlir;  FEOI'LE  -    BOOK   OK  HISTORY. 


by  reason  of  his  torment,  ploi.'cd  to  murder  bim  in  his  bed.  But 
his  hci ;-t  i;'!  kile  him  that  should  have  given  fire  to  that  merci- 
lease  pisl    i." 

The  president,  his  active  and  ei'.ergetic  career  thus  lamentitLK- 
arrested,  and  knowing  that  the  arrival  of  any  of  the  delayed  oiTwiula 
would  at  once  supplant  his  authority,  now  resolved  to  prnieed  ui 
England  for  surgical  aid.  Eariv  in  the  autumn  of  1609,  he  .-ict  s»;,ii, 
leaving  at  Jamestown  Mid  the  other  Virgin'a  pos''  four  hanvlnicl' 
and  ninety  people,  well  supplied  with  arms,  provision,  and  the 
nv^ins  of  0  iUivation  and  impro\  pment. 

"It  is  almost  im}>os.sible  to  over-eitiinate  tl  (i ;  'T vices  of  this  remark- 
fible  man  in  laying  the  foundaliou  of  the  Anycrican  empire.  Van 
Kfiiiiiutit  feats  of  anas  which  ho  so  often  perfor.'ned,  iid  tLu  deadly  I 
pciil^  which  he  so  often  encountered,  are  little  in  t'cm]  wiaon  with  ' 
tbft  autirisig  veal,  the  e/er-watchfiil  foresight,  an<!  the  sagac;  ius 
policy,  \>y  \y\)\<h.  for  years,  he  su.slained,  on  his  single  ami,  tuo 
entire  weight  cl  tof?  'i."??teTice  oi  the  colony.  Incompetency  of  his 
emplc-yer:-!,  niulii;.y  arnoiig  his  followers,  the  hostility  of  powerful 
tribes,  sicbtcss,  pnvi.*  ons,  a;  id  famine  itself,  were  all  remedied  or 
conquen-.l  bv  his  aimost  unaided  exertions. 

'■Kude  arsd  violent  as  he  often  vv'as  toward  the  offendiiig  natives 
no  white  inni),  perhaps,  ever  so  far  jonciliated  the  favour  ai.d  gained 
the  respect  of  the  Indian  race.  His  very  name,  long  after,  was  a 
spell  of  power  among  them,  and  had  he  remained  in  Virginia  a  few 
years  longer,  the  memorable  massacre  which,  in  1622,  proved  an 
almost  fatal  blow  to  the  settlements  in  that  country,  would,  it  is 
f>-v>bab]e,  never  have  been  perpetrated.  The  wretched  condition  of 
ti.o  colony,  immediately  after  his  departure,  may  be  given  in  the 
rude  but  graphic  language  of  one  vi'ho  shared  its  misfortunes. 

'■ '  Now  we  all  found  the  losse  of  Captainv  Smith,  yea,  his  greatest 
mabgners  could  now  curse  his  losse;  as  for  corne,  provision,  and 
contribution  from  the  Salvages,  we  had  nothing  but  mortall  wounds, 
with  clubs  and  arrows;  as  for  our  Hogs,  liens,  Goates,  ,^  .eij e, 
Ilorp-e,  or  what  lived,  our  commanders,  officers,  and  the  Sal  'ages 
daily  connumed  them,  (some  small  jiroportion  .sometimes  we  tasted,) 
till  all  was  devoured;  then  swords,  arms,  pieces,  or  anything  we 
traded  with  ihe  Siilvagea,  whose  cruell  fingers  were  so  oft  im- 
brewed  in  our  blonds,  that,  what  by  their  crueltio,  our  G<  >  '^^rnour'a 
indiscretion  and  the  losse  of  our  ships,  of  five  hundred.  '•ua  six 
nioneths  after  Captaine  SmitJt's  departure,  there  remain       .  i  past 


THE   SETTLEMENT   OF  VIRGINIA. 


09 


sixtie  men,  women,  and  children,  most  miserable  and  poore  crea- 
tures; and  those  were  preserved,  for  the  most  part,  by  rootes,  herbcs, 
walnuts,  acornea,  now  and  then  a  little  fish;  they  that  bad  starch,  in 
such  extremities  made  no  small  use  of  it;  yea,  even  the  very  skinnes 
of  our  Horses.  Nay,  so  great  was  our  famine,  that  a  Salvage  we 
Blew  and  buried,  the  poorer  sort  tooke  him  up  againe  and  eate  him, 
and  so  did  divers  one  another,  boyled  and  stewed  with  rootes  and 
herbes;  and  one  amongst  the  rest  did  kille  his  wife,  powdered" 
(pickled)  "her,  and  had  eaten  part  of  her  before  it  was  knowne,  for 
which  hee  was  executed  as  hee  well  deserved  *  *  This  was  that 
time,  which  still  to  this  day  we  call  'the  starving  time';  it  were  too 
vile  to  say,  and  scarce  to  bee  beleeved  what  we  endured ;  but  the 
occasion  was  oure  own,  for  want  of  providence,  industrie,  and 
government.' 

"Such  are  the  trials,  sufferings,  and  privations,  amid  which,  too 
often,  the  foundation  of  a  commonwealth  in  the  wilderness  must  be 
laid — misfortunes  at  times  hardly  avoidable,  but,  as  in  the  present 
case,  infinitely  aggravated  by  the  want  of  a  firm,  sagacious,  and 
resolute  Head."* 


I     it 


i  I 


Mji-;  » 


LJniiiotJtTiLiujri    lAil* 


MBMOia  OP  SMITH,  CONTINUED  AND  CONOLUDBD. — HIS  YOTAOB 
TO  NEW  ENGLAND   AND  SURVEYS.— rHIS  SECOND   EXPEDITION. 
— HIS   ADVENTURES   AMO*^  THE   PIRATES:   HIS  ESCAPE. 
— HIS    ORK>T    EXERTIONS    POR    THE   SETTLEMENT    OP 
NEW   ENGLAND. — INTERESTING   INTERVIEW   BETWEEN 
SMITH    AND    POCAHONTAS    IN     ENGLAND.  —  LAST 
YEARS    OP    SMITH. — HIS    DEATH. — HIS  CHAR- 
ACTER   AND    ACHIEVEMENTS. 


^ 


Having  given  a  brief  account  of  the  early  adventures  of  Captain 
Smith,  (whose  life,  more  nearly  than  that  of  any  other  man,  seems 
to  connect  the  fortunes  of  the  Old  World  with  the  New,)  having 
remarked  tc  a  l'..vi  u'  Iiuiritbi?  purpose  his  training  in  the  rough  school 
.  ?war,  '  f    ruvel,  and  of  au-orsity  served  in  his  career  as  a  colonist, 


*  Discoverers,  die,  of  /'*  merica. 


TniS  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTOBY. 


it  may  uot  be  amiss  to  give  a  few  particulars  of  the  remainder  of  bis 
active  and  useful  life — especially  as  that  life,  to  its  end,  was  mainly 
and  unweariqdly  devoted  to  the  task  of  promoting  American  dis- 
covery and  colonization.  In  March  of  1614,  we  again  find  him,  in 
company  with  some  merchants  of  London,  fitting  out  an  expedition 
to  New  England,  in  two  vessels,  one  of  which  he  commanded  in 
person.  By  the  last  of  April,  he  arrived  at  the  island  of  Manhegin 
on  the  coast  of  Maine,  where  he  built  seven  boats,  and  made  an 
unsuccessful  attempt  at  whale-fishing.  The  crews,  with  much  better 
success,  were  therefore  set  to  work  at  catching  and  curing  cod,  while 
Smith,  with  eight  men,  in  a  small  boat,  surveyed  and  mapped  oui 
the  coast,  from  Penobscot  to  Cape  Cod.  In  his  chart,  he  had  mostly 
given  the  original  Indian  names,  but,  with  a  natural  desire  to  com- 
memorate his  own  adventures,  had  inserted  a  few  otliers  drawn  from 
that  fertile  source.  Cape  Ann  was  called  Cape  Tragabigzanda,  in 
honour  of  his  young  mistress  of  Constantinople,  and  the  Isles  of 
Shoals  were  laid  down  as  "The  3  Turkes'  Ileads."  At  his  request, 
however.  Prince  (afterwards  king)  Charles,  changed  most  of  these 
names  to  those  of  English  localities,  which  are  still  retained. 

Having  procured  b^'^  trafBc  an  immense  quantity  of  beaver  and 
other  furs  from  the  Indians,  (with  whom,  also,  he  had  two  fights,) 
in  August  he  returned  to  England,  leaving  his  consort.  Captain 
Thomas  Hunt,  to  continue  the  fishing  and  carry  the  cargo  to  Spain. 
Tbat  scoundrel,  at  his  departure,  in  the  words  of  Smith,  "betraied 
foure  and  twentie  of  those  poore  Salvages  aboord  his  Ship,  and  most 
dishonestly  and  inhumanely,  for  their  kind  treatment  of  me  and  all 
our  men,  carried  then  with  him  to  Maligo"  (Malaga),  "and  there  for 
a  little  private  gaine  sold  those  silly  Salvages  for  rials  of  eight;  but 
this  vilde  act  kept  him  ever  after  from  any  more  imploiment  to  Lliose 
parts."  To  tins  cruel  and  treacherous  act,  as  to  those  of  a  similar 
nature,  committed  by  the  French  in  their  voyages  to  Canada,  may 
be  attributed  much  of  the  hostility  experienced  by  later  comers  in 
settling  the  country. 

At  Plymouth,  to  which  Smith  next  came,  he  found  the  people 
still  "interested  in  the  dead  patent  of  ibis  unregarded  countrey" 
(New  England),  and  was  easily  induced  to  undertake  a  voyage  for 
the  conv'^ny  of  that  port,  rejecting,  with  honourable  promptitude, 
the  proposals  of  the  Virginia  Company,  who  would  now  gladly  have 
availed  themselves  of  his  services.  In  March,  1615,  he  sailed  for 
Aiiierici\  with  two  small  vessels,  on  a  voyage  which  waa  but  one 


THE  SETTLEMENT   OP   VIRGINIA. 


71 


series  of  misfortunea  His  ship  being  wrecked  and  dismasted,  he 
was  compelled  to  put  back,  and  tn  June,  iu  a  little  vessel  of  only 
sixty  tons,  resumed  the  enterprise.  Falling  in  with  an  English 
pirate  of  thirty-six  guns,  he  defied  her  so  bravely  with  only  four, 
that  the  crew  were  amazed  until  they  recognized  Smith,  with  whom 
some  of  them  had  served  years  before,  probably  in  the  Eastern  wars. 
They  begged  him  to  take  the  command  of  their  ship  (which  they ' 
had  seized  at  Tunis,)  but  he  declined  the  oflFer,  and  pursued  his  voy- 
age. Near  Fayal,  he  had  a  fight  with  two  French  pirates,  whom  he 
compelled  his  crew  to  resist,  threatening  to  blow  up  the  vessel  rather 
than  yield,  as  long  as  there  was  a  charge  of  powder  left  aboard. 
Escaping  from  this  danger,  at  Flores  he  was  captured  by  four  French 
men-of-war,  the  commander  of  which,  despite  his  commission  under 
the  Great  Seal  of  England,  plundered  his  little  vessel,  and  then  dis- 
missed her,  reserving  Smith,  as  a  precaution  against  his  revenge, 
as  a  prisoner.  During  the  whole  summer,  these  rovers  cruised  about, 
capturing  and  plundering  many  vessels,  keeping  Smith  a  prisoner 
in  the  cabin,  when  they  took  any  English  vessels,  but  gladly  avail- 
iug  themselves  of  his  courage  and  seamanship  in  their  fights  with 
the  Spaniards. 

The  very  different  light  in  which  the  worthy  captain  regarded 
these  several  transactions,  may  best  be  inferred  from  his  own  de- 
scription of  the  capture  of  two  prizes  of  the  different  nations.  "The 
next  wee  tooke,"  he  says  (in  a  journal,  which,  with  a  particular 
description  of  New  England,  he  wrote  aboard  the  Frenchman),  "was 
a  small  Englishman  of  Poole,  from  Newfound  land:  the  great  Cchben 
at  this  present  was  my  Prison,  from  whence  I  could  see  them  pillage 
these  poore  men  of  all  they  had  and  halfe  their  fishe;  when  hee  was 
gone  thev  sold  his  poore  clothes  at  the  Main  Mast  by  an  outcry," 
(auction),  "  which  scarce  gave  each  man  seven  pence  a  peeoe."  Mark 
the  change  in  his  tone  in  narrating  the  capture  of  a  rich  Spanish 
Galleon — "  a  West  Indies  man  of  warre,  a  forenoone  wee  fought  with 
her  and  then  tooke  her,  with  one  thousand,  one  Hundred  Hides, 
fiftie  chests  of  Cutchanole,  fourteene  coffers  of  wedges  of  Silver,  eight 
thousand  Rialls  of  Eight,  and  six  coffers  of  the  king  of  i^aine's 
treasure,  besides  tlie  good  pillage  and  rich  Goffers  of  many  rich  Passen- 
gers, Two  moneths  they  kept  me  in  this  manner  to  manage  their 
fights  against  the  Spaniards  and  bee  a  prisoner  when  they  tooke  any 
English."  The  very  imp-^r^ect  tone  of  public  morality  at  this  age 
is  sufficiently  evinced  in  the  complacency  with  which  Smith — -justly 


i:; 


m 


h  I 


ii 


rr'  i 


f* 


72 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OK  HIBTOKY. 


regarded  aa  an  uncommonly  honest  and  upright  man — views  these 
Bcones  of  piratical  plunder — always  provided  that  the  subject  of  them 
were  not  an  Englishman. 

His  captors  promised  him  ten  thousand  crowns  as  the  reward  of 
his  skill  and  valour;  yet  ^^-Scn  they  arrived  at  Rochelle,  I  lowing 
his  determined  charactv:,  .  <  .1  !  ig  his  vengeance,  still  kept  him 
prisoner.  In  a  ter.  iu  nff  * .',  iiowevtr,  which  drove  thorn  all  under 
liatches,  (and  whioli,  ihat  same  night,  destroyed  the  ship,  with  hulf 
her  company),  he  made  his  escape  in  a  small  boat,  and,  after  being 
driven  to  sea  and  enduring  great  peril  and  suffering,  was  found,  half 
dead,  by  somr-  Fowlers,  on  an  oozy  island,  and  was  brought  iwhore 
and  kindly  relieved. 

Returning  home,  he  published  a  book  on  New  England,  which  he 
had  writteu  to  beguile  the  weariness  of  his  captivity,  and,  with 
extraou  inary  activity,  travelling  through  the  west  of  England,  rlis. 
tributea  jv^ven  thousand  copies  of  it  among  people  of  note  and  influ- 
ence. *'Lut  all,"  he  says,  "availed  no  more  than  to  hew  rocks  with 
Oys»er  shells."  He  received,  however,  an  abundance  of  promises  of 
aid  \v  the  enterprise  of  settling  that  country,  and  was  invested  by 
the  Plymouth  company  with  the  title  of"  Admiral  of  New  England." 
These  encouragements  all  ended  in  words,  no  active  steps  being  takeu 
for  the  furtherance  of  the  object  which  ho  had  so  much  at  heart. 

A  most  interesting  interview  between  Siiiith  and  Pocahontas,  ■•».'.  n 
this  time,  is  recorded.  That  noble-hearted  princess,  despite  the  great 
afTtot'on  which  her  father  bore  to  her,  had  incurred  his  displeasure 
by  her  repeated  act3  of  kindness  in  behalf  of  the  English,  and  was 
living  exiled  from  his  court,  under  the  protection  of  Japazaws,  chief 
of  the  Potomacs.  That  treacher^:;U8  dignitary,  bribed  by  a  copper 
kettle,  entrapped  her  on  boaia  the  vessel  of  Captain  Argall,  who, 
notwithstanding  her  t«ars  and  lamentati  iis,  made  her  prisoner,  and 
took  her  to  Jamestov.  -infc  ning  hei  iher  tha'  she  could  be  ran- 
somed only  by  the  delivery  of  numerous  arms,  &c.,  which  his  people 
had  stolen  from  the  Enj'lish.  "This  vnwelcome  newes,"  .^nya  iho 
chronicler,  "much  troubled  Powhatan,  iecause  hec  loved  bcth  his 
daughter  aiid  our  commodities  well."  Afler  nn  alternatinr  of  war 
u!iil  negotiation,  the  matter  was  at  last  )•  ^n\y  settled  in  a  mtii.ncr 
more  agreeable  than  either, 

"  Long  before  this,"  continues  '  arr  ive,  "Master  John  Rolfe, 
an  lioiiost  Gentleman  aud  of  good  tH;iiavi>  r,  had  becne  in  love  with 
"P'lcahontas,  and  fihe  with  him,  which  resolution  Sir  Thomas  Dale 


THE  SETTLEMENT  OF 


KGINIA. 


73 


well  approved;  the  bruit  (report)  of  this  uiage  soon  came  to  the 
know  lodge  of  Powhatan^  a  thing  acccj. table  unto  him,  as  appeared 
by  his  sudden  consent,  for  within  ten  daies,  he  sent  Opachisco,  an 
old  Vncle  of  hers,  and  two  of  his  sons,  to  see  the  manner  of  the 
mariage,  and  to  doe  in  that  belialfe  what  they  were  requested,  for 
the  confirmation  thereof,  as  his  deputie;  which  was  accordingly  done 
about  the  first  of  Aprill,"  (1613),  "and  ever  since  we  have  had 
friendly  trade  and  commerce"  (intercourse)  "  with  Powhatan  himselfb, 
as  all  his  subjects." 

In  1616,  the  Lady  Rebecca  (as  she  was  now  christened),  with  her 
husband  and  child,  accompanied  Sir  Thomas  to  England.  She  had 
learned  English,  and  adopted  Christianity,  and  "  was  become,"  says 
the  narrator,  with  unconscious  national  satire,  "very  formall  and 
civill  after  our  English  manner."  Captain  Smith,  on  learning  of 
her  arrival,  lost  no  time  in  commending  her  to  the  attention  of  per- 
sons of  influence,  and,  in  a  studied  mf'morial  to  the  queen,  recapitu- 
lated the  many  services  rendered  b  I'ocahontas  to  himself  and  to 
the  Virginian  colony,  and  besought  her  favour  for  the  interesting 
stii'iger.  ■  "During  the  time  of  two  or  three  yeeres,  she,  next  under 
God,"  he  says,  "was  still  the  instrument  to  preserve  this  colonie  from 
death,  famine,  and  ntter  confusion,  which,  if  in  those  days  it  had 
once  been  dissolved,  Virginia  might  have  laine  tia  it  was  at  our 
' --st  arrivall  to  ili  -s  day." 

'^nhappily  i  account  of  the  ridiculous  jealousy  of  James  I.,  (who, 
it  said,  exhibited  much  indignation  against  Rolfe,  for  having  pre- 
sun^p'  being  a  subject,  to  intermarry  with  the  blood-royal)  the 
ca{)ta.  ,  vhen  he  went  to  see  her,  fearing,  by  too  great  familiarity, 
to  prejudice  It  interest  at  court,  thought  best  to  salute  her  with 
ceremonious ,  vity.  At  this  strange  reception,  her  affectionate  heart 
was  ut  once  gi  leved  and  indignant.  With  a  species  of  Indian  sul- 
lenness,  and  "without  any  word,"  he  says,  "she  turned  about,  ob- 
scured her  face,  as  not  seeming  well-contented.  In  that  humour," 
he  continues,  "her  husband,  with  divers  others,  we  all  left  her  two 
or  three  houres,"  (how  could  he!)  "repenting  myself  to  have  writ 
shce  could  speake  English.  *  *  But  not  long  aft'jr  ^^ho 

began  to  talke,  and  remembered  mee  well  what  courtesies  shee  hud 
dom  ;  saying,  'You  did  promise  Powhatan  what  was  yours  should 
bee  liis,  und  he  the  like  to  yoi;  you  called  him  father,  being  in  his 
land  a  Ftranger,  and  by  the  saii.e  reason  so  must  I  doe  you;'  which 
though  I  would  have  excused,  that  I  durst  not  allow  of  that  title, 


74 


THE  rKOPLE'8    BOOK  OF    HISTORY. 


becauM  she  was  a  King's  daughter,  with  a  well  sot  countenanc*  .be 
siiid,  'Were  you  not  afraid  to  come  into  niy  father's  countrio  and 
catiHO  fcaro  in  him  and  all  his  people  (but  moo),  and  feare  you  here 
I  should  call  you  father?  I  tell  you  then  I  will,  and  you  shall  cull 
nice  childe,  and  so  I  will  bee  for  ever  and  ever  your  countryman.'" 

Tills  prudent  conduct  of  Smith  and  her  other  friends,  it  would 
seem,  allayed  the  absurd  jealousy  of  James;  for,  ho  continues,  "It 
jileascd  both  the  King  and  Queeue's  maiesty  honorably  to  esteemo 
iier,  accom panic  1  by  that  honorable  Lady,  the  Lady  Dt  la  Wane 
and  that  honorable  Lord,  her  husband,  and  divers  other  persons  of 
good  quality,  both  publikely  at  the  maskes  and  otherwise,  to  her 
great  satisfaction  and  content,  which  doubtless  she  would  have  de- 
served, had  she  ever  lived  .xj  arrive  in  Virginia."  She  died  at 
Grave.xend  on  her  way  home,  in  the  following  year,  nt  the  age  of 
twenty-two,  leaving  a  son,  from  whom  a  numerous  race  of  descend- 
ants  have  been  derived.  "Among  them  was  the  celebrated  John 
liandolph  of  Roanoke — justly  prouder  of  his  descent  from  the  oM 
imperial  race  of  Powhatan,  illustrated  by  the  more  gentle  heroism  of 
his  daughter,  than  he  could  have  been  of  the  noblest  derivation  from 
European  ancestry." 

In  1617,  Captain  Smith  had  been  assured  by  the  Plymouth  Com- 
pany that  he  should  be  sent  out,  with  a  fleet  of  twenty  ships,  to 
found  a  colony  in  New  f]ngland ;  but  this  promise  never  was  ful- 
filled, though  he  was  unwearied  in  his  exertions  to  incite  his  coun- 
trymen to  American  enterprise.  When,  in  1622,  news  came  of  the 
terrible  massacre  devised  by  Opechancanough,  (see  chapter  XIII.)  he 
pro|)08ed  U^  the  Virginia  Company  that  if  they  would  but  allow 
him  an  hundred  and  thirty  men,  "to  imploy  onely  in  ranging  the 
Countries  and  tormenting"  (harassing)  "the  Salvages,"  their  whole 
territory  should  bo  kept  in  peace  and  security;  but  they  rejected 
the  offer,  aa  involving  a  necessity  for  too  great  expense.  Another 
terrible  massacre,  a  few  years  later,  was  the  result  of  this  short- 
sighted policy. 

In  the  following  year,  we  find  the  captain  before  a  royal  commis- 
sion, giving  his  evidence  and  opinion  concerning  the  unfortunate 
colony  with  much  shrewdness,  candour,  and  charity.  Of  the  la.st  few 
years  of  his  life  little  is  known.  He  lived,  it  is  believed,  in  quiet 
repose  in  the  city  of  London,  employed  chiefly  in  writing  and  pub- 
lishing. He  was  engaged  on  a  "History  of  the  Sea,"  when,  in  1681, 
death  closed  a  career  in  which  utility  and  romance  were  perhaps 


TUK  8ETTLEMKNT  OF  VIUOINIA. 


76 


more  closely  and  continuoualy  united  than  in  any  other  of  which  a 
record  has  survived.  ...»  / 

"In  the  whole  history  of  adventure,  discovery,  and  exploration, 
there  are  few  names  more  honourable  or  more  deservedly  famous 
than  that  of  Captain  John  Smith.  To  us  he  has  always  appeared 
(to  his  very  name  and  title)  the  finest  and  most  perfect  exemplar  of 
a  bold  Englishman  that  ever  figured  on  the  stage  of  the  world.  In 
hia  character,  bravery,  fortitude,  sagacity,  and  sound  common  sense 
were  so  happily  tempered  and  united  as  to  command  instinctive 
respect;  while  the  tolerably-infused  tincture  of  impetuosity,  preju- 
dice,  and  self-will,  seems  only  to  lend  a  piquancy  to  his  worthier 
trulls,  and  more  finely  to  set  off  the  national  characteristics.  Ilis 
love  of  enterprise  and  his  daring,  chivalrous  spirit,  were  tempered 
with  a  judgment,  moderation,  and  humanity,  which,  in  so  rough  a 
career,  have  never  been  surpassed.  The  cutter-off  of  Turks'  heads, 
the  desperate  Indian  fighter,  and  the  sworn  foe  to  the  Spaniard  ia 
ill  compassion  and  sympathy  when  the  'Silly  Salvages'  are  kidnap- 
ped by  Ilia  treacherous  countryman,  or  when  the  'poore  clothes'  of 
'a  small  Englishman '  are  sold  by  outcry  at  the  main-mast  of  a  pirate. 

"In  early  youth,  his  grand  passion  was  for  fighting  and  renown, 
no  matter  on  what  field,  so  that  a  man  of  honour  might  engage.  In 
maturer  years,  the  noble  passion  for  founding  nations  and  spreading 
civilization  took  a  yet  firmer  possession  of  his  soul.  '  Who,'  he  ex- 
claims in  his  manly  address  to  the  idlers  of  England,  'who  can 
desire  more  content  that  hath  small  means,  or  only  his  merit,  to 
advance  his  fortunes,  than  to  tread  and  plant  that  ground  he  hath 
purchased  by  the  hazard  of  his  life;  if  hee  have  but  the  taste  of 
vertue  and  magnanimitie,  what  to  such  a  mind  can  bee  more  pleas- 
ant than  planting  and  building  a  foundation  for  his  posterity,  got 
from  the  rude  earth  by  God's  blessing  and  hia  owne  industry,  with- 
out prejudice  to  any ;  if  hee  have  any  graine  of  faith  or  zeale  in 
Religion,  what  can  hee  doe  lesse  hurtfuU  to  any  or  more  agreeable 
to  God,  than  to  seeke  to  convert  those  poore  Salvages  to  know 
Christ  and  humanity,  whose  labors,  with  discretion,  will  triply 
reward  thy  charge  and  paine ;  what  so  truly  sutes  with  honor  and 
honesty  as  the  discovering  things  vnknowne,  erecting  Townoa,  peo- 
pling countries,  informing  the  ignorant,  reforming  things  unjust, 
teaching  vertue  and  gaine  to  our  native  mother  Country;  to  find 
imploiment  for  those  that  are  idle,  because  they  know  not  what 
to  doe;  so  farre  from  wronging  any,  as  to  cause  posterity  to  re- 


ii 

■  i 


III 

H 


76 


THE   PEOPLE'S   BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


member  them,  and  remembering  thee,  ever  honor  that  remembrance 
with  praise.' 

"The  full  merits  of  Smith,  as  the  earliest  and  most  indefatigable 
promoter  of  the  colonization  of  New  England,  have  never  been  ade- 
quately appreciated.  By  his  personal  exertions  in  the  survej',  delin- 
eation, and  description  of  that  neglected  region,  and  by  the  continual 
publications  which,  at  great  pains  afld  expense,  he  industriously  cir- 
culated in  England,  he  awakened  the  public  interest  in  an  enterprise 
which,  otherwise,  for  many  years  might  have  been  slighted  and 
deferred.  He  lived  to  see  the  foundations  of  a  great  nation  firmly 
laid,  both  at  the  south  and  the  north,  and,  though  like  many  other 
great  projectors  and  labourers  in  the  same  field  of  actiou,  he  reaped 
no  personal  advantage  (but  rather  much  loss)  from  his  exertion  and 
enterprise,  he  continued,  to  the  day  of  his  death,  to  regard  the  two 
colonies  with  the  fond  partiality  of  a  parent,  and  to  do  all  he  could 
for  their  advancement.  'By  that  acquaintance  I  have  with  them,'  he 
writes,  *!  call  them  my  Children,  for  they  have  beene  my  Wife,  my 
Hawks,  Ilounds,  my  Cards,  my  Dice,  and  in  totall,  my  best  content, 
as  indifferent  to  my  heart  as  my  left  hand  to  my  right.  And  not- 
withstanding all  those  miracles  of  disasters  which  have  crossed  both 
them  and  rae,  yet,  were  there  not  an  Englishman  remaining  (as,  God 
be  thanked,  notwithstanding  the  massacre,  there  are  some  thousands); 
I  would  yet  begin  againe  with  as  small  meanes  as  I  did  at  first,  not 
that  I  have  any  secret  encouragement,  (I  protest)  more  than  lament- 
able experience,'  &c. 

"  It  only  remains  to  add  that,  although,  so  far  as  we  are  informed, 
never  married,  the  gallant  captain  was,  and  deservedly,  a  general 
favourite  with  the  ladies.  There  seems  to  have  been  a  certain  man- 
hood and  kindliness  in  his  very  look,  which,  almost  at  a  glance, 
conciliated  to  him  the  good-will  of  the  fairer  and  weaker  portion  of 
liunianity.  These  favours,  so  flattering  to  the  natural  vanity  of  maii, 
he  bears  worthily,  and  with  no  offence  to  the  givers,  ever  speaking 
with  the  utmost  modesty  and  gratitude  of  the  kindness  he  had  so 
often  experienced  at  their  hands.  His  acknowledgment  to  the  sex 
(introduced  in  his  dedication  to  the  Duchess  of  Richmond)  reminds 
us  of  the  celebrated  eulogy  pronounced  by  Ledyard.  'I  confossc,' 
he  writes,  'my  hand,  though  able  to  wield  a  weapon  among  the 
Barbarous,  yet  well  may  tremble  in  handling  a  pen  before  so  many 
Judicious  *  *  Yet  my  comfort  is,  that  heretofore  honorable  ami 
vert'ious  Ladies^  and  comparable  but  among  them  selves,  have  of1(  icd 


me  rescue  ai 


% 


THE   SETTLEMENT   OF  VIEGINIA. 


77 


me  rescue  and  protection  in  my  greatest  dangers ;  even  in  forraine 
parts  I  have  felt  reliefe  from  that  sex. — The  beauteous  Lady  Traga- 
bigzanda,  when  I  was  a  slave  to  the  Turkes,  did  all  she  could  to 
secure  me '  {i,  e.  make  me  secure).  *  When  I  overcame  the  Bashaw 
of  Nalbriiz,  in  Tartaria,  the  charitable  Lady  Callamata  supplied  my 
necessities.  In  the  vtmost  r>f  many  extremities  that  blessed  Poka- 
liontas,  the  great  King's  daughter  of  Virginia,  oft  saved  my  life. 
When  I  escaped  the  crueltie  of  Pirats  and  most  furious  stormes,  a 
long  time  alone  in  a  small  Boat  at  Sea,  and  driven  ashore  in  France, 
the  good  Lady  Madam  Chanoyes  bountifully  assisted  me.'  "* 


rnAPTTTP     TTT 
\j  a,  dii,  i,     i,    ih  £\,      i&iXXe 

4RRIVAL  OP  GATES. — MI8BRABLB  CONDITION  OP  THE  COLONY. 

— JAMESTOWN   DESERTED. — ARRIVAL  OP  LORD  DELAWARE: 

OF    SIR  THOMAS    DALE. — EXERTIONS    OP    THE  COMPANT. 

—  INCREASED  IMMIGRATION. — THE  CULTURE  OF  TOBACCO 

INTRODUCED,  AND  EAGERLY  PURSUED. — TYRANNY  OP 

AROALL:  HIS  DISPLACEMENT. — GREAT  ACCESSION  OP 

IMMIGRANTS. — WIVES  PURCHASED  WITH  TOBACCO. 

—  LIBERAL  CONCESSIONS  TO  THE  COLONISTS. 

The  lamentable  condition  of  the  Virginian  colony,  after  the  de- 
parture of  Smith,  has  been  described.  Thirty  of  the  settlers,  seizing 
a  ship,  had  turned  pirates,  and  the  greater  part  of  the  remainder 
perished  of  famine,  disease  or  Indian  hostility.  When  Sir  Thomas 
Gates  and  his  companions,  who  had  been  wrecked  on  Bermuda, 
arrived  at  Virginia  in  vessels  of  their  own  construction,  (May  24th, 
1610,)  out  of  four  hundred  and  ninety,  whom  Smith  had  left,  only 
sixty  remained,  and  those  in  a  condition  of  such  misery  that  their 
end  was  almost  at  hand.  There  seemed  no  alternative  but  to  sail 
with  all  speed  for  Newfoundland,  and  there  seek  assistance  from  the 
fishermen;  and,  accordingly,  early  in  June,  (resisting  the  miserable 
desire  of  the  settlers  to  fire  their  deserted  dwellings,)  Gates,  with 
Ins  people  and  the  relics  of  the  Virginian  colony,  proceeded  down 
the  river. 

♦  Discoverers,  &c.,  of  America. 


■i 


i%m 


78 


TUE   PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


The  very  next  morning  (June  10th,  1610)  they  learned  that  Lord 
Del^'.ware  had  arrived  on  the  coast  with  supplies,  and,  putting  about 
returned  with  all  speed  to  Jamestown,  The  new  governor,  a  man 
of  high  character  and  good  judgment,  by  his  wholesome  rule,  and 
by  the  supplies  which  he  brought,  soon  restored  comparaxive  com- 
fort to  the  little  colony,  which,  at  this  time,  including  the  company 
of  Gates  and  his  own  emigrants,  did  not  exceed  two  hundred  souls- 
but  on  account  of  illness,  was  compelled,  the  same  year,  to  quit 
Virginia,  leaving  the  administration  in  the  hands  of  Mr.  Percy.  In 
May  of  the  next  year,  (1611,)  Sir  Thomas  Dale,  dispatched  thither 
with  fresh  supplies,  arrived,  and  assumed  the  government. 

Sir  Thomas  Gates,  who  had  also  repaired  to  England,  by  hia 
urgent  representations,  excited  the  company  to  fresh  exertions 
and  in  August  of  the  same  year,  with  six  ships,  bearing  three  huu- 
dred  more  emigrants  and  a  hundred  cattle,  he  arrived  at  Jamestown 
and  assumed  the  office  of  governor.  The  colony  now  numbered 
seven  hundred. 

In  1G12,  by  a  fresh  patent,  the  Bermudas  and  all  other  islands 
within  three  hundred  leagues  of  Virginia,  were  included  in  that 
province,  and  lotteries  were  authorized  for  the  benefit  of  the  com- 
pany. The  prosperity  of  the  colony  improved,  and  its  peaceful 
relations  with  the  Indians  seemed  secured  by  the  marriage  of  Rolfo 
and  Pocahontas,  which  took  place  about  this  time — a  propitious 
event,  resulting  in  the  alliance  net  only  of  Potvhatati  and  his  people, 
but  of  the  Chickahominies  and  other  tribes. 

In  the  account  of  Acadia,  mention  has  been  made  of  the  atrocious 
and  piratical  expedition  from  Virginia,  under  Captain  Samuel  Ar- 
gall',  destroying  the  little  colony  of  Port  Koyal,  the  first  settlement 
of  the  French  in  North  America.  That  unprincipled  commander, 
on  his  return,  also  entered  the  harbour  of  Manhattan  (New  York), 
and  enforced  a  show  of  submission  from  the  little  colony  of  iJol 
landers  inhabiting  the  island  of  that  name.  In  1614,  Sir  Tliomas, 
iippointing  Dale  as  governor,  returned  to  England;  and  the  latter, 
two  years  afterwards,  leaving  in  turn  George  Yeardle}'  as  deputy, 
followed  the  example.  By  far  the  most  memorable  fact  in  this 
stage  ot'  the  colony's  progress,  is  the  commencenient  of  the  culture  of 
tobacco,  the  use  of  which,  adopted  from  the  Indians,  l)ad  been  intro- 
duced into  England.  With  such  industry  did  the  prospect  of  a 
profitable  reward  for  labour  iuHpire  the  colonists,  that  the  verv 
btreeUs  of  Jamestown  were  planted  with  tobacco. 


TUE   SETTLEMENT   OF  VIKGINIA. 


In  1617,  the  office  of  deputy-governor  was  conferred  by  the  com- 
pany on  that  rash  and  unscrupulous  man,  Samuel  Argall ;  and  the 
death  of  Lord  Delaware — who,  embarking  with  a  considerable  com- 
pany, the  same  year,  for  Virginia,  died  on  the  voyage — 'left  his 
natural  tyranny  and  arrogance  without  a  check.  The  colonists,  ere 
long,  were,  in  effect,  complet^'ly  enslaved  by  their  arbitrary  governor, 
wlu)  used  his  office  only  as  a  means  for  his  private  aggrandizement, 
and  their  very  lives  were  in  danger  from  his  fury.  But  on  the  report 
of  these  excesses  reaching  England,  the  culprit,  after  a  spirited  ..ou- 
tcst  between  the  difi'erent  factions  in  the  company,  was  displaced, 
and  Yeardley,  whose  mild  and  benevolent  temper  had  made  him 
popular  with  the  settlers,  was  appointed  to  the  command.  His  just 
and  considerate  rule  soon  restored  quiet. 

The  cijmpany,  desirous  to  avoid  such  abuses  for  the  future,  had 
checked  the  authority  of  the  governor  by  that  of  the  council,  and 
actually  admitted  the  colonists  to  a  species  of  self-government.  The 
governor,  with  the  council,  and  certain  representatives  of  the  people, 
were  perniitted  to  enact  some  laws,  which,  however,  were  not  to  be 
valid,  unless  ratified  by  the  corporation  at  hon.e.  The  officers  of 
tlie  company,  and  in  especial,  Sir  Edwin  Sandys,  the  treasurer,  sup- 
ported by  the  liberal  party,  now  used  great  exertions  for  the  increase 
of  tlie  colony  and  the  extension  of  its  liberties.  In  1619,  there  were 
only  six  hundred  settlers  in  "N^irginia,  s  i  during  a  single  year  that 
energetic  officer  dispatched  thither  more  than  twelve  hundred  addi- 
tional emigrants.  An  hundred  and  fifty  young  women,  of  good 
character,  were  shipped  to  the  province,  and  were  married  with  great 
readiness — the  husbands  paying  the  company  each  an  hundred  and 
twenty  pounds  of  tobacco  or  more,  for  the  expense  of  their  trans- 
portation. By  1621,  three  thousand  five  hundiad  emigrants  had 
reached  ^'irgiuia*  and,  in  the  same  year,  with  liberality  and  fore- 
sight, rare  indeeu  for  the  age,  the  company  made  an  ordinance 
(onforring  on  thiit  pi  >vince  a  settled  and,  in  a  morner,  independent 
government.  Tlie  gov.^rnor  and  council,  iiidecil,  were  to  be  ap- 
piiintod  by  the  company,  Lit  a  legislative  assembly  was  to  be  chosen 
by  tlie  peojile,  with  powci-  tc  enact  laws,  subject  to  the  approval  of 
the  company — those  emanating  from  London,  in  like  manner,  to  be 
valid  only  on  ratification  by  tke  assembly.  Courts  of  law,  .strictly 
following  those  of  England,  were  re/juired  to  be  instituted,  and  the 
great  blessing  of  civil  liberty — as  great,  |>erhap8,  as  that  enjoyed  hy 
Eugli.sliinen  at  lioino — was  secured  to  the  firat  Amoricun  colony.  Thia 
Vol  IV.— 34 


II  ! 


Wm 

..l;|, 


80 


TUE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


magnanimous  concession,  due  to  the  generous  efforts  of  Southamp- 
ton, Sandys,  and  others  of  the  liberal  party,  was  one  of  the  first  and 
most  important  fruits  of  that  spirit  of  progress  at  that  time  just 
beginning  to  make  itself  felt  in  the  English  councils. 


CXTADTTT'D     'Y'TTT 
itii    Jki,    i      J,     Jli    iH       M,    I    l    ]»• 

WTATT  GOVERNOR. NEGRO   SLAVERY   INTRODUCED.  —  DEATH 

OF   POWHATAN    AND   SUCCESSION  OP   OPEC  H  ANC  ANOUGH. — 

PLOT   DEVISED    BY    THE   LATTER. TERRIBLE    MASSACRE 

OP    THE    ENGLISH. — DEPRESSION    OF    THE  COLONY. — 
USURPATION    OF    THE    PATENT    BY    JAMES  I. PRU- 
DENT   POLICY    TOWARD    THE   COLONISTS. 


Sir  Francis  Wyatt,  bearing  the  invaluable  gift  of  a  constitution, 
arrived  in  Virginia,  as  governor,  in  1621.  The  year  previous,  un- 
happily, had  been  distinguished  by  the  first  introduction  of  slavery 
into  the  colony — a  Dutch  vessel  having  entered  the  James  River 
and  brought  twenty  negroes  for  sale.  For  a  long  time,  indeed,  this 
nefarious  traffic  made  little  progress— being  principally  carried  on 
by  the  peoplo  who  commenced  it,  and  being  rather  connived  at  than 
favoured  by  the  government  of  the  province. 

The  agricultural  progress  of  Virginia  had  been  grievously  retarded 
by  unsuccessful  efibrts  at  the  production  of  wine  and  silk — articles 
of  luxury,  the  least  suited  to  a  new  territory  and  a  sparse  population. 
The  profitable  culture  of  tobacco,  and  its  sudden  importance  as  the 
staple  of  Virginian  agriculture,  have  been  noticed;  and  that  of 
cotton,  first  commenced  as  an  experiment,  in  1621,  marks  an  era  in 
the  liistory  of  American  agriculture  vastly  more  important  yet. 

King  Powliutan,  wlio,  after  the  English  alliance  of  his  daughter, 
had  been  the  firm  friend  of  the  colonists,  died  full  of  years,  in  1618, 
the  year  after  the  death  of  Pocahontas.  Opechancanough,  his 
younger  brother,  succeeded  him  in  the  government  of  thirty  tribes 
which  he  had  ruled.  Apprehensions  of  Indian  hostility,  from  a  long 
interval  of  peace,  had  gradually  died  out,  and  the  settlers,  eager  for 
tlie  cultivation  of  tobacco,  continually  pushed  their  plantations  further 
into  the  wilderness  and  more  remote  from  mutual  aid.    So  completely 


THE   SETTLEMENT   OF   VIRGINIA. 


81 


was  apprehension  allayed,  that  fire-arms,  to  furnish  which  to  the 
savages  had  formerly  been  denounced  as  an  offence  worthy  of  death, 
were  now  freely  supplied  them  for  hunting  and  fowling. 

It  is  not  easy  to  arrive  at  the  causes  which  induced  the  Indian 
population,  apparently  so  friendly  and  confiding,  to  resolve  en  an 
indiscriminate  massacre  of  the  English.     Doubtless,  like  all  other 
native  tribes,  they  were  jealous  of  continual  intrusions  on  their 
ancient  domain.    It  is  said,  also,  that  Opechancanough  was  mortally 
offended  by  the  killing  of  one  of  his  favourite  councillors,  called 
"Jack  of  the  Feather."     He  may  also  have  remembered,  with  deep 
vindictiveness,  how  Captain  Smith,  many  years  before,  had  held  him 
"  by  the  hayre  of  his  head  "  before  his  assembled  warriors.    Certainly, 
with  almost  incredible  secrecy  and  concert,  he  and  his  people  plotted 
the  destruction  of  the  whites.     On  the  22d  of  March,  1622,  about 
noon,  the  Indians,  who,  up  to  the  last  moment,  maintained  the  ap- 
pearance of  cordiality  and  friendship,  suddenly  and  simultaneously 
fell  on  the  English  settlements  in  every  quarter.     In  a  single  hour, 
three  hundred  and  forty-seven  of  the  colonists,  including  six  of  the 
council,  were  massacred ;  and  Jamestown,  with  some  adjoining  plan- 
tations, was  saved  only  by  the  timely  warning  of  an  Indian  who 
wished  to  rescue  an  English  friend  from  the  intended  extermination. 
The  savages,  who  seem  to  have  manifested  extraordinary  ferocity,  in 
many  instances,  rose  from  the  very  tables  which  had  been  spread 
for  their  dinners,  to  murder  their  unsuspecting  hosts.     "Neither 
yet,"  says  the  old  chronicler,  "  did  these  beasts  spare  those  among 
the  rest  well  knowne  unto  them,  from  whom  they  had  daily  received 
many  benefits,  but  spitefully  also  massacred  them  without  an}'  re- 
morse or  pitie;  being  in  this  more  fell  than  Lions  and  Dragons, 
which  (as  Histories  record)  have  preserved  their  Benefactors;  such 
is  the  force  of  good  deeds,  though  done  to  cruell  Beasts,  to  take 
humanitie  upon  them;  but  these  miscreants  put  on  a  more  unnatur- 
nll  brutishnesse  than  beasts,"  &c. 

Great  discouragement  fell  on  the  afEicted  colony.  Tlie  plantations 
were  reduced  to  a  tenth  of  their  number.  Sickness  prevailed,  and 
the  planters  were  compelled  to  direct  their  attention  from  a^^riculture 
to  war  v/ith  the  enemy.  The  mother-country,  with  hoiourable 
promptitude,  contributed  liberally  to  the  aid  and  comfo^'t  of  the 
unfortunate  settlers. 

The  company,  which  had  expended  great  sums  in  planting  and 
RURtaining  the  colony,  but  which  had  reaped  no  profit  from  its  enter- 


Mi 


82 


THE   PEOPLE'S   BOOK   OF   H18T0BY. 


prise,  was  now  of  importance  chiefly  as  the  theatre  of  debate  between 
the  liberal  and  arbitrary  factions.  To  suppress  the  former,  soon 
became  an  object  of  royal  jealousy,  and,  in  1622,  the  king  made  an 
unsuccessful  attempt  to  control  the  election  of  a  treasurer.  In  the 
following  year,  after  the  pretence  of  legal  investigation,  the  patent 
was  declared  forfeited,  and  the  king  resumed  the  authority  into  his 
own  hands.  Thin  transaotion,  thv^ugh  committed  under  the  guise 
of  law,  cannot  be  regarded  otherwise  than  as  a  piece  of  royal  usurpa- 
tion, dictated  by  jealousy  at  the  republican  tendencies  of  the  majority 
of  the  company.  The  foreign  government  of  Virginia  was  now 
I)laced  in  the  hands  of  a  committee  of  partisans  of  the  court,  which 
was  invested  with  the  soma  powers  as  the  late  Virginia  Company. 
This  change,  however,  brought  no  immediate  disadvantage  to  the 
colonists,  whose  liberties  were,  though  not  expressly,  suffered  to 
remain  on  the  same  footing  as  before.  Sir  Francis  Vv^yatt  was  con- 
firmed in  the  office  of  governor. 

Having  thus  described  the  tardy  and  unprosperous  settlemor^t  of 
Virginia,  and  the  final  dissolution  of  the  company  to  whose  esiorts 
.3  existence  as  a  colony  was  due,  we  leave,  for  the  present,  the 
ensuing  particulars  of  its  early  history,  to  relate  that  jf  the  common- 
wealth next  founded  on  these  shores — a  commonwealth  whose  hon- 
our, to  all  time,  will  be,  that  it  was  founded  on  principle  rather 
than  on  profit,  and  from  its  very  inception,  preferred  liberty,  though 
with  exile  and  suffering,  to  unjust  restraint,  though  sweetened  with 
the  comforts  of  country  and  of  home. 


THE  SETTLEMENT  OE  NEW  ENGLAND. 


.1,;      ■,...,  :     ■■• 


■  1  ■■.'!:i\  ■    I    '111 


UNSUCCESSFUL    ATTEMPTS    OP    THE    PLYMOUTH    COMPANY    TO 
SETTLE   NEW   ENGLAND.  —  PERSECUTION   OF   THE    NON-CON- 
FORMISTS.—  RETREAT   OP  ROBINSON'S  CONGREGATION  TO 
HOLLAND:   THEIR   HIGH   CHARACTER:    TEEIR   RESOLU- 
TION   TO   PLANT    A    COLONY:     THEIR    LOYALTY    AND 
COURAGE:    DEPARTURE    PROM    DELPT    HATBN. 
I  •■    '  ■ ,     'fA-.  ■  ■      '  '  '      ■      '  '  '    ■    '    . 

The  patent  issued  by  James  I.  for  the  formation  of  two  com- 
panies to  settle  North  America  has  been  mentioned,  and  the  planta- 
tion of  a  colony  in  Virginia  by  the  first  of  them  described.  The 
other,  of  weaker  resources  and  less  enterprise,  experienced  in  their 
attempts  to  settle  New  England  only  a  succession  of  miserable  fail* 
ures.  Their  first  vessel,  in  1606,  was  captured  by  the  Spaniards. 
In  the  following  year,  two  others,  bearing  forty-five  emigrants,  were 
again  dispatched  thither,  and,  in  August,  came  to  the  mouth  of  the 
Kennebec.  A  small  village,  slightly  fortified,  was  built,  and,  in  the 
beginning  of  winter,  the  ships  returned.  The  season  proved  exceed- 
ingly severe;  part  of  their  provisions  were  lost  by  a  fire;  their 
governor,  George  Popham,  died;  and  when,  the  next  year,  the 
vessels  returned  with  supplies,  the  colonists  had  become  so  discour- 
aged as  to  resolve  on  forsaking  the  plantation.  Thus,  the  first 
attempt  at  a  settlement  in  New  England  was  nipped  in  the  bud. 

The  discouragement  caused  by  this  ill-success  was  in  some 
measure  allayed  by  the  enterprise  and  exertions  of  Smith,  who,  in 
1614,  surveyed  and  mapped  out  a  great  portion  of  the  coast  of 
Northern  Virginia,  on  which  he  first  bestowed  the  title  of  New 
England.  The  crinje  of  his  partner,  Hunt,  in  kidnapping  a  number 
of  the  Indians,  and  selling  them  as  nlaves  in  Spain,  has  been  men- 
tioned, as  well  as  the  strenuous  but  unavailing  exertions  of  Smith, 
for  years  afterwards,  to  effect  the  colonization  of  these  neglected 


Hi 


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f'i' 


4J' 

1       t 

■v\ 

^ir--. 

'  .#■ 

-'t 

•  ■%■ 

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t4 


THE  PEOPLE'S   BOOK  OF  UI8T0BY. 


regions.  Great  Hchemes,  indeed,  were  formed,  and  lavish  promises 
were  made  by  the  Plymouth  Company;  and  the  honourable  title  of 
"Admiral  of  New  England,"  bestowed,  in  perpetuity,  on  Smith 
seemed  to  indicate  a  confidence  in  great  ultimat  success.  All,  how- 
over,  vanished  in  mere  words,  though  the  company,  in  1820,  pro- 
cured from  the  king  a  renewal  of  their  patent,  with  such  almost 
unlimited  powers  of  government  and  extent  of  territory  as  had  never 
before  been  conferred  by  the  crown  on  any  subject  or  association. 
The  settlement  of  New  England  was  due  to  a  spirit  more  earnest 
and  an  aim  more  honourable  than  even  those  by  which  its  warmest 
promoters  had  hitherto  beon  actuated. 

The  persecution  of  non-conformists,  commenced  in  the  reign  of 
p]lizabeth,  was  carried,  under  that  of  James  I.,  to  such  an  unen- 
durable extreme,  that  a  voluntary  exile  from  England  seemed  at 
liust  the  only  resource  of  the  aggrieved  party.  Even  this  forlorn 
alternative,  under  the  despotic  rule  of  the  House  of  Stewart,  wius 
denied  them;  and  great  sufferinc;  and  long  separation  were  endured 
by  those  who  sought  to  fly  the  country.  In  1608,  the  congregation 
of  the  Rev.  John  Robinson,  an  eminent  preacher  of  the  Independent 
Church,  after  several  unsuccessful  attempts,  attended  with  ill-usago 
and  separation,  contrived  to  get  clear  of  England.  They  settled  ai 
Leyden,  under  the  more  humane  and  liberal  government  of  Ilolland 
and  during  a  protracted  residence  at  that  city,  by  their  good  conduct, 
gained  universal  respect.  "These  English,"  said  the  magistratCvS, 
"have  lived  amongst  us  ten  years,  and  yet  we  never  had  any  suit 
or  accusation  against  any  of  them." 

Their  church,  which,  at  the  end  of  that  time,  numbered  three 
hundred  communicants,  was  of  a  strictly  independent  government; 
and,  to  their  honour,  a  provision  of  their  creed  declared  a  doctrine 
rare,  and,  indeed,  almost  unheard  of  at  the  day — that  ecclesiastical 
censure  should  involve  no  tetuporal  penally.  Their  cause  and  their 
doctrines,  defended  by  the  learning  and  eloquence  of  their  pastor, 
were  viewed  with  general  respect  and  symj^athy. 

Wedded  to  industry,  no  'ess  by  necessitv  than  principle,  they  had 
learned  mechanicjil  arts,  aai  l.unestly,  though  hardly,  suuported 
their  families.  They  never,  i  deed,  became  in  any  way  assioiilateU 
with  the  Dutch  in  language  or  in  manners,  and  ever  cherished  an 
affectionate  feeling  for  the  land  from  which  they  had  been  so  rudely 
driven.  The  dissoluteness  of  manners  prvvaleiit  among  certain 
claases  of  the  community  in  which  they  were  settled,  tilled  them  with 


THE  SETTLEMENT  OF   NEW   ENGLAND. 


85 


ftpprehension  for  the  morals  of  their  children;  and  it  was  at  last  cot)- 
sidered  advisable  by  them  to  seek  a  permanent  asylum  and  a  national 
home,  even  if  it  could  only  be  found  in  some  yet  untrodden  wilder- 
ness. It  was  proposed  by  the  more  enter*^  -Jing,  that  they  should 
seek  "some  of  those  unpeopled  countries  of  America,  which  are 
fruitfull  and  fit  for  habitation  >  ing  devoid  of  all  civill  inhabitants, 
where  there  rse  only  salvage  a. id  brutish  people,  which  range  up 
and  down  little  otherwise  than  the  wild  beasts." 

To  this  scheme  the  more  timid  of  the  company  opposed  many 
objections,  and  especially  the  cruelty  of  the  savages,  and  their  hor- 
rible treatment  of  their  prisoners.  "  It  was  answered."  says  Bradford,* 
"that  all  great  and  honorable  actions  were  accompanied  with  great 
difficulties,  and  must  be  both  enterprised  and  overcome  with  answer- 
able courages.  It  was  granted  the  dangers  were  great,  but  not 
desperate,  and  the  difficulties  were  many,  but  not  invincible.  It 
might  be  that  some  of  the  things  feared  might  never  befall  them; 
o'chers,  by  providence,  care,  and  the  use  of  good  means,  might  in  a 
great  measure  be  prevented;  and  all  of  them,  through  the  help  of 
God,  by  patience  and  fortitude,  might  either  be  borne  or  overconio." 
This  noble  reply  appears  to  have  silenced  the  objectors;  for,  after 
several  days  passed  in  prayer  and  humiliation,  it  wjis  resolved  that 
the  little  congregation  of  exiles  should  seek  a  final  home,  M'Uether 
for  life  or  death,  in  the  American  wilderness. 

On  learning  their  determination,  the  Dutch,  who  held  their  cour- 
age and  virtue  in  high  esteem,  were  anxiously  desirous  that  tho 
proposed  settlement  should  be  made  in  the  name  of  their  own  nation, 
and  made  handsome  offers  to  that  end ;  but  the  love  of  country  pre- 
vailed, and  it  was  resolved  that  wherever  the  ( .npany  might  found 
u  state,  it  should  be  but  one  more  province  for  '..«  crown,  to  which, 
in  despite  of  its  wanton  oppression,  they  were  still  blindly,  but 
loyally  attached.  The  most  eligible  spot,  if  permission  could  be 
obtained  to  remove  thither,  seemed  some  uninhabited  part  of  that 
vast  and  indefinite  tract,  then  known  as  Virginia.  Through  the 
influence  of  Sandys,  permission  to  settle  was  obtained  from  the  Vir- 
ginia Company,  and  through  that  of  the  tolerant  Archbishop  Usher, 
a  sort  of  tacit  connivance  at  their  scheme  was  wrung  from  the  king. 
On  the  most  hard  and  exhorbitant  terms,  absorbing  the  labours  and 
profits  of  the  projected  colony  for  seven  years,  the  requisite  means 
were  obtained  from  a  company  of  London  mercl  ints.     A  little  ship, 

•  Second  governor  of  Plymouth  colony. 


86 


THE   PEOPLK'8    BOOK    OF   HISTORY, 


culled  the  Speedwell,  of  sixty  tons,  had  been  purchased,  and  another, 
the  May-Flower,  of  one  hundred  and  eighty,  had  been  hired  in  Eng- 
land. The  first  of  th^.  .v,is  brought  to  Delft.  Haven,  a  port  a  little 
south  of  Leyden,  whither,  on  tho  21st  of  July,  1622,  a  poi'on  of 
the  copgrejrn'ion,  who  were  to  sail,  accompanied  by  men  .\'  the 
remainder,  repaired.  "So  they  left  that  pleasant  and  goodly  city, 
which  had  been  their  resting  place  near  twelve  years.  But  they 
knew  they  were  Piff/rims,  arid  looked  not  much  on  those  things, 
but  lifted  their  eyes  to  heaven,  their  dearest  country,  and  quieted 
their  spirits.  »  *  #  The  next  day,  the  wind  being  fair,  they 
went  on  board,  and  their  friends  with  them;  when,  truly  doleful 
was  the  sight  of  that  sad  and  mournful  parting;  to  see  what  sighs, 
and  sobs,  and  prayers  did  sound  amongst  them ;  what  tears  did  gush 
from  every  eye  and  pithy  speeches  pierced  each  other's  heart;  that 
sundry  of  the  Dutch  strangers  that  stood  on  the  quay  as  spectators, 
could  not  refrain  from  tears."  Their  pastor,  Robinson,  who,  with 
a  portion  of  his  people,  remained,  "  fallinf  down  on  his  knees,  and 
they  all  with  him,  with  watery  cheeks  commended  them,  with  most 
fervent  prayers,  to  the  Lord  and  his  blessing;  and  then,  with  mutual 
embraces  and  many  tears,  they  took  their  leaves  of  one  another, 
which  proved  to  be  their  last  leave  to  many  of  them."* 


■'.J    iLiI>    Jtit    X      X     Jj    JTl       X    X  • 

STORMY     VOTAOB     OP    THE     riLORIMS     TO     AMERICA. — THEI 
ARRIVE    AT    CAPE    COD:     ARE    COMPELLED    TO    DISEMBARK: 
INSTITUTE  A   REPUBLIC.  —  THEIR  SIMPLE  CONSTITUTION. 
—  CARVER    ELECTED    OOVBRNOR,  —  ABSENCE    OF    PER- 
SONAL  AMBITION   AMONG    THE    PURITAN   SETTLERS. 


The  May-Flower  and  the  Speedwell,  carrying  an  hundred  and 
twenty  pa.>*8enger8,  on  the  5th  of  August,  1620,  sailed  from  South- 
ampton in  company.  Com|)elled,  by  a  leak  in  the  latter,  they  put 
back  into  Dartmouth,  whence,  on  the  21st,  they  again  took  their 
departure.  After  getting  a  hundred  leagues  to  sea,  they  were  again 
obliged,  through  the  timidity  of  her  captain  and  some  of  the  corn- 

•  Bradford'8  History  of  Plymouth  Colony. 


THE  8KTTLBMENT  OF  NKW    ENGLAND. 


87 


*"  "^  la>   e  screw, 

plaice  agai  n. 

J  h'    fteroua 

"ce  .  10  lie  at 

!hey  fell  in 


pftiiy,  to  return  to  Plymouth.  Here  they  disembarked  the  fow  wl  > 
were  too  fearful  to  see  the  adventure  to  a  >  end,  and  on  the  6th  ut 
September,  the  remainder,  one  hundred  and  one  in  number,  going 
aboard  the  May-Flower,  bade  their  final  farewell  to  Ei.^land.  Tiie 
weather,  for  a  time  pleasant,  at  length,  with  the  approach  of  winter, 
became  adverse,  bringing  "many  contrary  winds  am'  'ier(  ■  storma, 
with  which  their  ship  was  shrewdly  shaken."  "Mu;  Ni  y-Flower 
began  to  leak,  and  one  of  her  main  beams  bent  an'\  ci  cd.  Despite 
these  discouragements,  it  was  resolved  t<  hold  on.  One  of  the  piis- 
sengers,  by  good  fortune,  had  taken  amon^  ujp 
"by  means  of  which  the  said  beam  was  I  roue'lit  i 
And  so,"  continues  the  pilgrim  journalist,  *^ 
stormes,  in  which  they  could  make  no  sail, 
hull  for  many  days  together,  after  long  beatiu^ 
with  the  land  called  Cape  Cod ;  the  which  being  Uiu^o  and  certainly 
known  to  be  it,  they  were  not  a  little  joyful." 

Oil  the  10th  of  November,  after  a  weary  passage  of  sixty-three 
daya,  the  ship  doubled  the  extremity  of  Cape  Cod,  and  anchored  in 
a  good  harbour,  on  which  Provincetown  now  stands.  It  had  been 
agreed  that  the  pilgrims  should  be  landed  somewhere  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  the  Hudson,  but  the  captain  of  the  May-Flower,  bribed, 
it  is  said,  by  the  Dutch,  who  were  jealous  of  intrusion  on  their  ter- 
ritories, pleading  the  low  state  of  the  provision  as  an  excuse,  insisted 
on  landing  them  immediately.  Being  compelled  to  comply,  and 
finding  themselves  without  the  limits  of  the  Virginia  Company's 
jurisdiction,  and  thus  destitute  of  a  government,  they  at  once  set  to 
work  to  construct  one;  and,  on  the  very  day  after  their  arrival, 
(November  11th,)  with  a  reservation  of  allegiance  to  the  crown,  pro- 
ceeded to  erect  a  democracy  in  its  simplest  and  most  explicit  sense. 
All  the  men  of  the  company,  forty-one  in  number,  signed  the  fol- 
lowing brief  but  comprehensive  instrument: 

"In  the  name  of  God,  omen;  we,  whose  nnniua  are  underwritten,  the  loyal  subjects 
of  our  dread  sovereign,  King  Juuies,  having  undertiiken,  for  the  glory  of  God  nnd 
udvuneement  of  tiie  Christian  faith,  and  iionor  of  our  king  and  country,  a  voyage  to 
plant  the  iir»t  colony  in  the  northern  parts  of  Virginia,  do  by  these  presents,  solemnly 
and  mutually,  in  the  presence  of  God  and  one  of  another,  covenant  and  combine  our> 
selves  together,  into  n  civil  body  politic,  for  our  better  ordering  and  preservation,  and 
furtherance  of  the  ends  aforesaid ;  and  by  virtue  hereof  to  enact,  constitute  and  frame 
such  just  and  equal  laws,  ordinances,  acts,  constitutions  and  offices,  from  time  to 
time,  as  shall  be  thought  most  convenient  for  the  good  of  the  colony.  Unto  which 
wo  promise  all  due  obedience  and  submission." 


I  if 


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IMAGE  EVALUATION 
TEST  TARGET  (MT-3) 


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Photographic 

Sciences 
Corporation 


33  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

WEBSTER,  NY    I45t0 

(716)  873-4S03 


88 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


Such  was  the  plain  and  simple  form  of  the  first  written  constitu- 
tion, emanating  from  the  popular  will,  ever  adopted  in  America.  It 
may  be  regarded  as  the  basis  of  that  vast  superstructure  of  freedom 
which  has  since  been  gradually  reared  in  the  Westeln  Hemisphere. 

Mr.  John  Carver,  a  gentleman  of  high  integrity  and  amiable  char- 
acter, and  one  of  the  chief  promoters  of  the  enterprise,  was  forthwith 
chosen  governor — an  office  which,  in  the  present  juncture  of  affairs 
could  have  offered  little  temptation  to  ambition.  "In  the  early  his- 
tory of  New  England,  it  may  be  remarked,  we  do  not  find,  as  in 
that  of  nearly  all  other  European  settlements,  the  name  of  any  one 
man  greatly  conspicuous  above  Lis  companions,  or  exclusively  iden- 
tified with  the  foundation  of  the  commonwealth.  The  names  of 
Cortes  and  Pizarro,  of  Champlain  and  Penn  and  Smith,  are  each 
inseparably  associated  with  the  history  of  the  countries  whose  desti- 
nies, for  good  or  evil,  they  had  so  large  a  share  in  shaping;  while, 
in  the  less  ambitious  annals  of  Puritan  colonization,  the  memories 
of  Carver,  Bradford,  and  Winslow— of  Endicott  and  Winthrop — of 
Standish,  Mason,  and  Church,  with  those  of  many  other  associate  wor- 
thies, are  fused  and  blended  with  the  common  history  of  the  country. 
■  "The  cause  of  this  distinction  is  not  difficult  to  define.  Principle, 
rather  than  personal  ambition,  whether  of  the  more  selfish  or  gener- 
ous kind,  was  the  main  spring  and  prompting  ^notive  of  the  actors 
who  figured  in  those  once  neglected  scenes  of  enterprise ;  and  all 
thought  of  private  advancement  or  renown  was  for  the  time  merged 
in  a  spirit  of  community,  such  as  only  the  strong  prompting  of  reli- 
gious enthusiasm  can  maintain." 


DREARY    APPEARANCE    OP    NEW   BNOLAND. — EXPLORING    PARTY. 

— STRANGE  INJUSTICE  TO  THE  INDIANS. — THE  VOYAGE  TO 

PLYMOUTH   HARBOUR. — SKIBMI8H    WITH  THE  SAVAGES. 

—  SETTLEMENT  OP  PLYMOUTH      OUNDED. — GREAT  8UP- 

PERINO    AND    MORTALITY    AMONG    THB    PILGRIMS. 


Ukged  by  the  impatience  of  the  master  of  the  May-Flower,  the 
little  band  of  exiles  busied  themselves  in  finding  a  place  foi  immedi 
ate  disembarkation  and  settlement.     Nothing  could  have  been  more 


THE  SETTLEMENT  OF  NEW  ENGLAND. 


89 


dreary  or  desolate  thaa  the  appearance  of  the  country  they  had 
touched  on — of  a  stern  and  sombre  character  in  the  pleasantest  sea- 
son, and  now^  doubly  severe  in  the  gloom  of  an  approaching  winter. 
"Which  way  soever,"  says  one  of  them,  "they  turned  their  eyea 
(save  upward  to  the  Heaven)  they  could  have  little  solace  or  content 
in  respect  of  any  outward  objects.  For  summer  being  done,  all 
things  stand  for  them  to  look  upon  with  a  weather-beaten  face;  and 
the  whole  country  being  full  of  woods  and  thickets,  represented  a 
wild  and  Salvage  hue.  If  they  looked  behind  them,  there  was  the 
mighty  ocean  which  they  had  passed,  gnd  was  now  a  main  bar  and 
gulf  to  separate  them  from  all  the  civil  parts  of  the  world.  *  *  ,  * 
May  and  ought  not  the  children  of  these  fathers  rightly  to  say, 
'Our  fathers  were  Englishmen,  which  came  over  this  great  ocean  and 
were  ready  to  perish  in  this  wilderness.  But  they  cried  unto  the 
Lord,  and  he  heard  their  voice  and  looked  on  their  adversity.'  And 
let  them  therefore  praise  the  Lord,  because  he  is  good,  and  his  mer- 
cies endure  forever."  '  ^  '  ;.i'  '  "  i'.'-i!  •'  >'  :  i 
On  the  15th,  sixteen  volunteers  were  permitted  to  go  on  shore, 
under  command  of  Captain  Miles  Standish,  who  had  served  in  the 
wars  of  Holland,  and  who  was  the  only  soldier  by  profession  in  the 
whole  company.  This  redoubtable  warrior  (the  Mr.  Greatheart  of 
the  Progress  of  these  Pilgrims)  was  a  man  little  in  stature,  but  re- 
markably strong  and  active,  and  of  the  most  fiery  and  resolute 
courage.  The  company  marched  inland  for  ten  miles,  following  a 
party  of  Indians,  whom  they  could  not  overtake.  Weary  and  thirsty, 
they  came  at  last  to  a  spring,  where,  says  one,  "we  sat  \ia  down  and 
drank  our  first  New  England  water,  with  as  much  delight  as  ever 
we  drank  drink  in  all  our  lives."  They  found  and  examined  an 
Indian  grave,  carefully  replacing  the  articles  deposited  there,  *'  think- 
ing it  would  be  odious  unto  them  to  ransack  their  sepuk.hres."  From 
a  subterranean  store-house,  however,  which  they  discovered,  they 
thought  fit  to  carry  off  a  supply  of  provisions,  among  which  were 
"six  and  thirty  goodly  ears  of  corn,  some  yellow  and  some  red,  and 
others  mixed  with  blue,  which  was  a  very  goodly  sight."  Repara- 
tion was  afterwards  made  to  the  owners,  and,  it  is  said,  that  the 
grain  thus  obtained,  preserved  for  seed,  eventually  secured  the 
colony  from  famine.  In  other  expeditions  of  survey,  both  store- 
houses and  wigwams  were  "ransacked,"  and  the  simple  wealth  of 
the  absent  Indians  unjustly  appropriated — though,  with  the  saving 
clause  of  intended  restitution.     "iSo7ne  of  tfie  best  tilings  wee  toolcc,^^ 


m 


90 


THK  PEOPLE'S  BOOS  OP  HISTORY. 


remarks  the  narrator,  with  that  happy  unccnscioiuness  of  impropri- 
ety which,  almost  throughout  our  oolonial  history,  marks  the  record 
of  violence,  of  fraud,  or  of  spoliation  committed  on  the  natives. 

The  adjoining  regions  having  been  partially  explored,  at  a  con- 
sultation, it  was  thought  bust  by  some,  for  the  convenience  of  fishing 
and  other  advantages,  to  settle  on  Cape  Cod;  but  the  pilot,  Mr. 
Coppin,  suggesting  that  there  was  a  good  harbour  on  the  western 
side  of  the  bay,  it  was  resolved  to  examine  it  On  the  6th  of  Decem- 
ber, a  bitter  cold  day,  Carver,  Winslow,  Bradford,  Standish,  and 
fourteen  more,  embarked  in  the  shallop,  and  followed  the  coast  south- 
ward. The  spray,  falling  on  their  clothes,  froze  instantly,  "and 
made  them  many  times  like  coats  of  iron."  On  the  morning  of  the 
second  day  of  their  voyage,  while  at  prayers  on  the  shore,  they  were 
assailed  with  arrows  by  a  party  of  savages.  Muskets  were  discharged 
in  return,  but  no  serious  result  seems  to  have  ensued  on  either  side. 
The  Indians  finally  retreated,  leaving,  among  other  trophies,  eighteen 
arrows,  "  headed  with  brass,  some  with  harts'  horns,  and  others  ^vith 
eagles*  claws."  "The  cry  of  our  enemies,"  says  one  of  the  pilgrims, 
"was  dreadful.  Their  note  was  afler  this  manner,  'woach,  woach, 
ha  ha  hach  uhkuA.*  "  This  peculiar  succession  of  sounds  has  descended 
to  our  own  day,  as  the  war-whoop  of  certain  native  tribes.         t  > 

All  that  day,  the  voyagers  sailed  swiftly,  with  a  fair  wind,  along 
the  coast;  but  toward  night,  the  weather  grew  heavier,  and  the 
rudder  breaking  from  its  hinges,  they  had  much  ado  to  scud  before 
the  wind,  steering  with  oars.  "The  seas  were  grown  so  great  that 
we  were  much  troubled  and  in  great  danger;  »  ^  night  grew  on. 
Anon,  Master  Coppiu  bade  us  be  of  good  cheer,  .w  the  harbour. 
As  we  drew  near,  the  gale  being  stiff,  and  we  l)e&nng  great  sail  to 
get  in,  split  our  mast  into  three  pieces,  and  were  like  to  have  cast 
away  our  shallop.  Yet,  by  God's  mercy,  recovering  ourselves,  we 
had  the  flood  with  us,  and  stnick  into  the  harbour." 

This  harbour,  already  surveyed  and  named  by  Captain  John 
Smith,  was  that  of  Plymouth.  The  location  appeared  so  favourable 
that  it  was  resolved  to  plant  the  settlement  there,  and,  accordingly, 
the  party  of  survey  having  returned  to  Cape  Cod,  on  the  16th,  the 
ship,  with  all  her  conipany  (except  one  who  had  died  at  sea,  and 
four  who  had  died  at  the  cape),  came  into  the  harbour.  "On  the 
22d  of  December,  1620,  a  day  for  ever  memorable  in  the  annals  of 
America,  the  little  band  of  Pilgrims  landed  on  that  rock,  now,  like 
the  Stone  of  Mecca,  the  object  of  enthusiastic  pilgrimage  to  their 


THE  8£TTLI|^£NT  OF  NEW  ENGLAND. 


01 


descendants."  A  site  was  selected  for  the  town,  and  timber  being 
cut,  nineteen  houses,  with,  all  possible  dispatch,  were  erected:  but, 
so  severe  was  the  season,  and  so  great  the  unavoidable  exposure, 
(especially  in  wading  on  the  shallows,  to  and  from  their  barge,)  that, 
before  the  end  of  February,  twenty-five  more  of  them  had  perished 
of  disease  and  privation.      i.i  ^.Dmjti.u.s  ,w«r,iu:u«i    •<<)  wi  /uviuuii 

'  ,(,<,n  fiU  tli'rA'  ,  .t'"f^».'  't'-iifi    ■  •ilh.'-.lU.r,   fi-VB  ,5»r'ifvjo  'ij'-;.-;  ^.yuii'ri  ;: •••..7, 


.!,]   I.. 


■:n,?jn; 


-    .;        ij  U,  H  i    I   Si  Si     i   Y  •      , ,   ,  r.  -V 

'    !  /■       ■  r     ' "         <■    '  ~      ,         -  .  ■ 

THB  INDIAXS  OF  NEW  BNOLAND:  THINNED  fiT  PESTILENCE 
— THE  PEQU0T8,  NARBA0AN8ETT8.  AND  OTHER  TRIBES. 
— 'EXTRAORDINART  OPINIONS  OP  THE  ENGLISH  CON*    ;„,,;' 
CERNINO  THEK. — BIGOTED  ACCOUNTS  OP  THB         >,u^( 


ANqiBNT    HI8T0EUNS>    ETC. 


It 


Bt  a  desolating  pestilence,  which,  not  long  before  their  arrival, 
bad  swept  New  England,  the  country  around  Plymouth  had  been,  in 
great  measure,  denuded  of  its  original  inhabitants.  Many  powerful 
tribes  had  been  almost  annihilated,  and  others  reduced  to  a  fraction 
of  their  original  numbers.  The  most  considerable  nations  yet  sur- 
viving, were  those  of  ^.he  Pequots  and  Narragansetts,  often  at  war 
with  each  other,  and  with  other  neighbouring  tribes.  The  foimer, 
whose  chief  stronghold  was  on  a  commanding  eminence  in  Groton, 
in  the  east  of  Connecticut,  numbered,  says  Roger  Williams,  thirty 
thousand  souls.  This,  undoubtedly,  is  an  excessive  exaggeration. 
The  latter,  a  noble  and  magnanimous  people,  dwelt  in  the  8tate*of 
Bhode  Island,  where,  it  is  said,  they  numbered  five  thousand  war- 
riors. The  Pokanokets,  a  confederacy  of  smaller  tribes,  including 
the  Wampanoag&,  Pocassets,  Sogkonates,  and  many  others,  dwelt 
in  Eastern  Massachusetts,  and  on  the  upper  waters  of  Narragansett 
Bay.  Before  the  ravages  of  the  pestilence,  they  are  said  to  have 
comprised  three  thousand  warriors;  but  afterwards  only  five  hun- 
dred. The  Massachusetts,  dwelling  around  the  Bay  of  that  name, 
had  formerly  been  a  great  people,  but,  from  the  same  cause,  were 
reduced  to  a  mere  remnant  These  tribes  mostly  acknowledged  the 
supremacy  of  Massasoit,  chief  of  the  Wampanoags,  whose  chief  seat 
was  at  Mount  Hope,  near  the  present  town  of  Bristol.    The  Paw- 


92 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OllHISTOBT. 


tuckets,  who,  we  are  told,  had  also  numbered  three  thousand  war- 
riors, had  been  almost  completely  exterminated.  Many  small  clans 
mostly  dwelling  in  the  westward  of  Connecticut  and  Massachusetts 
are  not  included  in  this  estimate. 

All  these  tribes,  except  the  Pequots  and  Narragansetts,  were 
tributary  to  the  Mohawks,  inhabiting  the  east  of  New  York,  one  of 
the  fiercest  and  most  powerful  of  the  celebrated  Five  Nations.  "  Two 
old  Mohawks,"  says  Dr.  Trumbull,  "every  year  or  two  might  be 
seen  issuing  their  orders,  and  collecting  their  tribute,  with  as  much 
authority  and  haughtiness  as  a  Roman  dictator."  Any  disobedience 
of  their  commands  was  speedily  punished  by  an  avenging  war-party, 
which  cut  off  the  offenders  without  mercy.  The  Mohawks,  it  ia 
said,  would  sometimes  pursue  their  victims  into  the  houses  of  the 
English,  yelling,  "We  are  comel  we  are  come  to  suck  your  blood," 
and  slaying  them  on  the  very  hearth-stone.  This  powerful  league, 
however,  long  at  mortal  feud  with  the  French  of  Canada,  regarded 
the  English,  as  rivals  of  the  latter,  with  complacency,  and  never 
offered  any  molestation  to  their  persons  or  property. 

"It  was  now  just  a  century  since  the  Conquest  of  Mexico,  by 
Cortes,  had  first  brought  the  races  of  Europe  into  direct  collision 
with  those  of  the  Western  Continent  In  that  interval,  the  Reform- 
ation had  arisen,  had  spread,  and  had  produced  perhaps  its  finest 
fruit  in  the  little  band  of  self  devoted  exiles*  who  sought  in  the  wil- 
derness a  foothold  for  civil  and  religious  freedom.  As  a  matter  of 
course,  the  world  was  more  enlightened,  yet,  strange  to  say,  hardly 
a  step  had  yet  been  taken  in  the  direction  of  the  fairest  and  no- 
blest result  to  which  enlightenment  can  tend — the  acknowledgment 
of  the  universal  humanity  and  brotherhood  of  all  mankind.  Our 
pious  forefathers,  like  the  Spaniards  of  the  century  before,  still 


*  Some  idea  of  the  noble  spirit  of  tolerance  which  distinguished  the  first  exiled 
Puritans  may  be  gathered  from  the  farewell  address  of  their  pastor,  breathing  nentU 
ments  infinitely  in  advance  of  hia  age,  and  even,  in  some  degree,  of  our  own.  "  I 
charge  you,"  he  says,  "before  God  and  his  bletised  angels,  that  you  follow  mo  no 
further  than  you  have  seen  me  follow  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  The  Lord  lias  more 
truth  yet  to  break  out  of  his  Holy  Word.  I  cannot  sufficiently  bewail  the  condition 
of  the  reformed  churches,  who  are  come  to  a  period  in  religion,  and  will  go  at  present 
no  further  than  the  instruments  of  their  reformation. — Luther  and  Calvin  were 
great  and  shining  lights  in  their  time,  yet  they  penetrated  not  into  the  whole  counsel 
of  God. — I  beseech  you,  remember  it — ^His  an  article  of  your  church  covenant— that 
you  be  ready  to  receive  whatever  truth  is  made  known  to  yon  from  the  written  word 
of  God."  Ml 


THE  BETTLEHKNT   OF   NEW  ENGLAND. 


98 


regarded  tbe  dwellers  of  the  New  World  as  the  direct  offspring  or 
certainly  the  direct  worshippers  of  Satan,  and  as  enjoying  all  the 
familiarity  to  which  his  most  favoured  protegia  could  be  entitled. 
Nothing  is  more  strange  than  to  read  the  opinions  and  conclusions 
on  this  subject  of  the  men  of  that  age — men  otherwise  just,  saga- 
cious, and,  for  their  day,  liberal  in  the  extreme." 

According  to  one  of  the  early  historians  of  New  England,  the 
aborigines,  on  learning  of  the  arrival  of  the  pilgrims,  took  extraor- 
dinary  pains  to  exorcise  the  advent  of  Christianity.  "They  got,"  he 
says,  "  all  the  powaws  of  the  country,  who,  for  three  days  together, 
in  a  horid  and  devilish  manner,  did  curse  and  execrate  them  with 
their  conjurations,  which  assembly  and  service  they  held  in  a  dark 
and  dismal  swamp.  Behold  how  Satan  labored  to  hinder  the  gospel 
from  coming  into  New  England." 

In  his  "Good  News  from  New  England,"  Governor  Winslow,  with 
a  sort  of  ludicrous  reiteration,  dwells  on  the  same  point.  "  Another 
power  they  worship,"  he  informs  us,  "whom  they  call  Hobbamock, 
and  to  the  northward  of  us  Hobbamoqui ;  this,  as  far  as  we  can  con- 
ceive, is  the  devil.  *  *  This  Hobbamock  appears  in  sundry 
forms  unto  them,  as  in  the  shape  of  a  man,  a  deer,  a  fawn,  an  eagle, 
&c.,  but  most  ordinarily  a  snake.  He  appears  not  to  all,  but  the 
chiefest  and  most  judicious  among  them;  though  all  of  them  strive 
to  attain  to  that  hellish  height  of  honor.  *  *  The  paniesses 
are  men  of  great  courage  and  wisdom,  and  to  these  the  devil  appear- 
eth  more  familiarly  than  to  others,  and,  as  we  conceive,  maketh  cov- 
enant with  them  to  preserve  them  from  death  by  wounds  with  arrows, 
knives,  hatchets,  &c.  *  *  And  to  the  end  that  they  may 
have  store  of  these,  they  train  up  the  most  forward  and  likeliest  boys, 
from  their  childhood,  in  great  hardness,  and  make  them  abstain  from 
dainty  meat,  observing  divers  orders  prescribed,  to  the  end  that, 
when  they  are  of  age,  the  devil  may  appear  to  them.  *  *  Also 
they  beat  their  shins  with  sticks,  and  cause  them  to  run  through 
bushes,  stumps,  and  brambles,  to  make  them  hardy  and  acceptable 
to  the  devil,  that  in  time  he  may  appear  to  them." 

Hear  the  reverend  William  Hubbard,  the  painful  historian  of  New 
England,  only  a  few  years  before  the  commencement  of  the  eighteenth 
century.  He  concludes  a  dissertation  on  the  origin  of  the  Indians  in 
the  following  lucid  and  summary  manner:  "Mr.  Mede's  opinion 
about  the  passage  of  the  natives  into  this  remote  region,  carrj'es  the 
greatest  probability  of  truth  with  it;  of  whose  conjecture  it  may  be 


w 


m 
kijiii 


4 


II 


I 


94 


THE  PKOPLE'B  BOOK  OF  UI8T0BY.  i 


said,  in  a  sense,  as  sometimes  of  Achithopell's  counsell  in  those  dayes 
that  itt  was  as  the  oracle  of  Qod.  His  oonceitt  is,  that  when  tho 
devill  was  putt  out  of  his  throne  in  the  other  parts  of  the  world,  and 
that  the  mouth  of  all  his  oracles  was  stopt  in  Europe,  Asia,  and  Afri- 
ca, hee  seduced  a  company  of  silly  wretches  to  follow  his  conduct" 
(guidance)  "into  this  unknowne  part  of  the  world,  where  hee  might 
lye  hid,  and  not  be  disturbed  in  the  idolatrous  and  abominable,  or 
rather  diabolicall  service  hee  expected  from  those  his  followers;  for 
here  are  no  footsteps  of  any  religion  before  the  English  came,  but 
meerely  diabolicall  *  *  and  so  uncouth,  as  if  it  were  framed  and 
devised  by  the  devill  himselfe,  and  'tis  transacted  by  them  they  used 
to  call  pawwowes,  by  some  kind  of  familiarity  with  Satan,  to  whom 
they  used  to  resort  for  counsell  ip  all  kinde  of  evills,  both  corporall 
and  civill." 

"To  opinions  such  as  these,  the  result  of  ignorance  and  prejudice, 
must  doubtless  be  attributed  a  large  measure  of  that  cruel  and  un- 
charitable spirit,  which  dictated  not  only  the  wrongs  and  massacres 
committed  on  the  natives,  but  the  still  more  unpleasing  exultation 
over  their  sufferings  and  extermination,  which  glows  with  an  infer- 
nal light  in  the  pages  of  the  chronicles  of  the  day,  and  especially  in 
those  of  the  reverend  historians,  Hubbard  and  Mather. 

"Continually  on  the  alert  against  the  assaults  of  the  infernal 
enemy,  our  fathers  saw  his  finger  in  witchcraft,  in  Indian  warfare, 
and  in  many  another  annoyance,  the  result  of  natural  causes.  Anger 
and  hatred  were  thus  aroused — hatred,  indeed,  of  an  imaginary  foe, 
but  still  hatred,  bitter,  personal,  and  vindictive  to  a  degree  which 
we  can  hardly  conceive,  and  which  found  its  gratification  in  ven- 
geance on  the  supposed  agents  of  the  invisible  Tormentor. 

"It  could  hardly,  perhaps,  be  expected  that  men  engaged  in  the 
deadly  terrors  of  savage  warfare  should  have  much  sympathy  for 
their  vanquished  enemies — especially  when  regarded  as  children  of 
the  devil;  yet  the  daring  ferocity  of  the  Indian-fighters,  occasionally 
relieved  by  a  touch  of  good  feeling  and  humanity,  is  far  more  agree- 
able to  contemplate  than  the  venomous  spirit  exhibited  by  the  hon- 
ourable and  reverend  recorders  of  their  deeds,  whose  minds,  imbued 
with  the  wretched  notion  of  Satanic  agency,  seem  actually  to  revel 
in  tho  torment,  destruction,  and  assured  damnation  of  their  unfortu- 
nate foes.  In  this  particular,  we  perceive  a  superstition  strangely 
variant  from  that  of  the  Spaniard,  who,  while  slaying  and  tormenting 
tho  miserable  bodies  of  the  aborigines,  was  ever  anxious,  even  at  the 


if 


THB  SETTLEMENT  OP  NSW   EMOLAND. 


96 


Buke  or  the  gallows,  that  their  souls  might  escape  the  eternal  penalty, 
and  be  admitted  to  the  same  heaven  which  he  expected  to  enjoy  in 
penwn,"* 

,.,i-t.;q/f]fv{v.rf  J        n   n    A    D  T   P   15       IT      -'ff"  ^'"^ ''J"''"f  "^ ''' 


t^t^V'NA^I^I^I^N^S^I^ 


t  ,  li.f,,.:    r...  I   .  .(   .J  . -,.  "... 

SilOSlT:  "WBLOOKB,  BNOLISHXlN." — TBI  TISIT  01  1IA89A 

SOIT. — TBBATT  AKD  ALLIANOB. — HOKTAIITT  AMONG  THB 

COLONISTS. — DBATH  01  eOVBRNOR  CARTBB.-^DVBl.  AND 

ITS    fUNIBHMBNT. — TI8IT    TO    XA88A80IT:    TO    ITAH- 

OUOH. — AlfBCTING  INOIDBNT. 


%'i  .fisif  imd  >ri'!  i,i 


■iCf  <• 


uf 


The  first  Indian  with  whom  the  settlers  of  Plymouth  had  any 
communication,  was  one  Samoset,  a  sagamore  or  petty  chief,  who 
had  learned  a  little  English  from  the  traders  of  Manhegin,  and  who, 
on  the  16th  of  March,  1621,  entered  the  little  settlement,  and  saluted 
the  pilgrims  with  the  ever>memorable  words, "  Welcome,  Englishmen." 
A  friendly  intercourse,  by  his  means,  was  immediately  established 
with  the  neighbouring  Indians,  who  heretofore  had  held  cautiously 
aloof  One  whom  he  brought  on  a  subsequent  visit,  was  Squanto, 
the  only  surviving  native  of  Patuxet,  the  country  around  Plymouth. 
He  was  one  of  the  twenty-four  whom  "that  wicked  varlet  Hunt" 
had  kidnapped,  and,  having  been  at  London,  and  learned  English, 
he  proved  of  great  value  as  an  interpreter.  He  brought  information 
that  Massasoit,  the  greatest  sachem  of  the  adjoining  regions,  with 
many  of  his  subjects,  was  close  at  hand.  That  chief,  'inded  by 
sixty  men,  presently  appeared  on  the  hill  above  Plymo  ith,  and 
Edward  Winslow,  with  the  interpreters,  was  sent  to  meet  him. 
"We  sent  to  the  king,"  says  tho  old  historian,  "a  pair  of  knives, 
with  a  copper  chain  and  a  jewel  at  it.  To  Quadequina  "  (his  brother) 
"  we  sent  likewise  a  knife,  and  a  jewel  to  hang  in  his  ear,  and  withal 
a  pot  of  strong  waters."  In  compliance  with  a  friendly  invitation, 
Massasoit,  leaving  Winslow  as  a  hostage,  descended  the  hill,  and, 
with  twenty  attendants,  came  to  one  of  the  houses,  where  prepara- 
tion had  been  made  to  receive  him. 


•■'r\ 


(,^'.:■ 


*  Diacoveren,  Slo.,  of  America. 


Vol,  IV.— 85 


9a 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HlflTOBY. 


Governor  Carver,  with  the  sound  of  drum  and  trumpet,  presently 
entered,  and  the  two  dignitaries  were  soon  in  convivial  and  political 
harmony.  "After  salutations,  our  governor  kissing  his  hand,  the 
king  kissed  him,  and  so  they  sat  down.  The  governor  called  for 
some  strong  waters,  and  drank  to  him,  and  he  drank  a  great  draught," 
&c.,  &c.  An  interview  thus  propitiously  commenced,  soon  ripened 
into  treaty  and  alliance — alliance  faithfully  observed  by  both  parties 
for  more  than  fifty  years;  and  the  sachem  (influenced,  it  is  to  be 
feared,  a  trifle  overmuch  by  the  vigorous  draught  he  had  imbibed) 
"acknowledged  himself  content  to  become  the  subject  of  our  sover- 
eign lord,  the  king  aforesaid,  his  heirs  and  suoceasors;  and  gave  unto 
them  all  the  lands  adjacent  to  them  and  to  their  heirs  forever.  *  * 
All  which  the  king  seemed  to  like  well,  and  it  was  applauded  of  his 
followers.  All  the  while  he  sat  by  the  governor,  he  trembled  with 
fear.  In  his  person  he  is  a  very  lusty  man,  in  his  best"  years,  of  an 
able  body,  grave  of  countenance  and  spare  of  speech ;  in  his  attire, 
little  or  nothing  diflering  from  the  rest  of  his  followers,  only  in  & 
gr3at  chain  of  white  bone  beads  about  his  neck;  and  at  it,  behind 
bis  neck,  hangs  fk  little  bag  of  tobacco,  which  he  drank  and  gave  us 
to  drink,"  (t.  e.  smoke.) 

Under  the  instruction  of  Squanto  and  Samoset,  the  English,  with 
the  coming  on  of  spring,  applied  themselves  to  fishing  and  to  the 
agriculture  suitable  to  the  country.  Twenty  acres  of  Indian  corn 
were  planted.  Thirteen  more  of  the  colonists  died  during  March 
reducing  them  to  half  of  their  original  number,  and  the  May*FIower 
half  of  whose  crew  was  also  dead,  on  the  fifth  of  April,  sailed  for 
England.  On  the  following  day,  died  good  Governor  Carver,  who, 
while  toiling  in  the  unwonted  heat  of  an  American  sun,  had  received 
a  mortal  coup  de  aoleil.  "  His  care  and  pains  were  so  great  for  the 
common  good,  as  therewith,  it  is  thought,  he  oppressed  himself  and 
shortened  his  days."  Such  is  the  brief  but  honourable  epitaph  of 
the  first  New  England  executive.  William  Bradford^  a  young  man, 
but  ardent  and  energetic,  was  elected  to  succeed  him.  Under  hia 
rule  the  first  punishment  was  inflicted  in  the  colony.  Two  servants 
of  Mr.  Hopkins,  for  fig' ting  a  duel,  with  sword  and  dagger,  were 
adjudged,  by  general  vote,  to  be  tied,  neck  and  heels  together,  and 
so  to  remain  twenty-four  hours;  but  the  judges,  moved  by  the  ex- 
cruciating tortures  of  the  culprits  (both  of  whom  had  been  wounded 
in  their  duello)  released  them  within  an  hour,  on  promise  of  better 
carriage  for  the  future. 


THE  8ETTLSMENT  OV  MEW  ENGLAND. 


07 


Winalow  and  Hopkins,  aetting  forth,  in  July,  on  a  visit  to  Massa- 
Boit,  passed  through  many  fields  well  cleared  and  ready  for  cultiva- 
tion, but  depopulated  by  the'  pestilence,  numerous  skeletons  still 
bleaching  on  the  ground.  Massasoit,  though  friendly  and  hospitable, 
was  ill-prepared  for  the  reception  of  company,  the  royal  larder,  it 
seems,  just  then,  being  wofully  unsupplied.  Two  fish,  which  the 
poor  king  caught  with  his  own  hands,  were  all  the  reiVeshment  he 
could  offer  them.  Agreements  for  traffic  were  made,  and  the  chief, 
turning  to  his  assembled  subjects,  made  a  long  oration,  "  the  meaning 
whereof,"  says  Winslow,  "  was,  as  far  as  we  could  learn,  thus,  •  Was 
not  he,  Massasoyt,  commander  of  the  country  round  about  them? 
Was  not  such  a  town  his  and  the  people  of  it?  and  should  they  not 
bring  their  skins  unto  us?'  To  which  they  answered,  they  were  his, 
and  would  be  at  peace  with  us,  and  bring  their  skins  to  us.  After 
this  manner  he  named  at  least  thirty  places,  and  their  answer  was  as 
aforesaid  to  every  one;  so  that,  as  it  was  delightful,  it  was  tedious 
unto  us.  This  being  ended,  he  lighted  tobacco  for  us,  and  fell  to 
discoursing  of  England  and  of  the  King's  Majesty,  marvelling  that 
he  would  live  without  a  wife."  After  a  friendly  sojourn  of  some 
days,  the  envoys  returned,  leaving  the  chief  "both  grieved  and 
ashamed  that  he  could  no  better  entertain  them." 

A  party  of  the  English,  searching  for  a  lost  child,  (who  was  found, 
and  well  cared  for  by  the  Indians,)  put  into  Cummaquid,  (Barn- 
stable,) the  seat  of  the  sachem  lyanough,  "a  man  not  exceeding 
twenty-six  years  of  age,  but  very  personable,  gentle,  courteous,  and 
fair  conditioned;  indeed,  not  like  a  savage,  saving  for  his  attire. 
His  entertainment  was  answerable  to  his  parts,  and  his  cheer  plenti- 
ful and  various.  One  thing,"  proceeds  the  narrator,  "was  very 
grievous  to  us  at  this  place.  There  was  an  old  woman,  whom  we 
judged  to  be  no  less  than  a  hundred  years  old,  which  came  to  see 
us,  because  she  never  saw  English;  yet  could  not  behold  us  without 
breaking  out  into  great  pulsion,"  (emotion,)  "  weeping  and  crying 
excessively.  We  demanding  the  reason  of  it,  they  told  us  she  had 
three  sons,  who,  when  Master  Hunt  was  in  these  parts,  went  aboard 
his  ship  to  trade  with  him,  and  he  carried  them  captives  into  Spain, 
(for  Tisquantum, "  (Squanto)  "  was  at  that  time  carried  away  also,) 
by  which  means  she  was  deprived  of  the  comfort  of  her  children  in 
her  old  age.  We  told  them  we  were  sorry  that  any  Englishman 
should  give  them  that  offence,  that  Hunt  was  a  bad  man,  and  that 
all  the  English  that  heard  it  condemned  him  for  the  same;  but  for 


*l! 


IS, 


HI 


98 


TUK  PBOl'LK'S  BOOK  Or  HISTORY.  >.■  ,. 


ua,  we  would  not  offer  (hem  any  such  ii^jury,  though  it  would  gain 
u«  all  the  ikint  in  the  country.  So  we  gave  her  lome  unall  trifles, 
which  somewhat  appeased  her." 


!^''iJt.i   U>  (,*»'l   i*(**  ,^ ' 


•>'li/    !»ilj 


CHADTrU     ITT 


li'i^'l 


.  f  r.'  . 


ABBITAL  OF  THI  FORTVXI. — CHALlllfOI  FROM  CANONICITS: 
HIS    8DP1R8TITI0U8    DRBAO. — PITMOUTH    FORTIFIID  — 

WESTON'S  COLONY  AT  WBTMOUTH;    ITS  MI8BRABLB  OON- 
'      DITION. — MASSASOIT  ILL:  CDRBD  BY  THB  BNULI8H. 
'  '  — DAN0BR0D8    PLOT    RBTBALBD.  '\  '  • 

JJaiy*        MU     </^  (Ml   i.i.aj*/    ?  .;„ 

A  SMALL  vessel,  called  the  Fortune,  in  November,  1621,  arrived 
at  Plymouth,  bringing  thirty-five  additional  emigronts — not  enough, 
indeed,  to  rSploce  those  who  had  already  perished  of  privation  and 
exposure — and  bringing  neither  arms  nor  provision  to  the  weak  and 
hungry  colonists.  That  the  settlement,  in  its  infancy,  was  not 
speedily  cut  off",  was  due  only  to  the  friendliness  of  Mossosoit  and 
other  chiefe,  and  to  the  courageous  attitude  of  the  few  Englishmen 
who  remained  alive.  By  the  energy  and  promptitude  of  Standiah,  a 
germ  of  native  hostility  wos  suppressed,  and  many  petty  chieftains 
even  subscribed  their  marks  to  an  acknowledgment  of  allegiance  to 
the  king  of  England.  One  Hobbamook,  a  noted  paniese  or  warrior 
of  Maasasoit,  came  to  live  with  the  English,  and  during  the  rest  of 
his  life,  was  faithful  to  their  service.  j  „..o     .>(,i.;:«/  L.:,    .i 

Canonicus,  the  great  sachem  of  the  Norragansetts,  who,  at  one 
time,  had  sent  a  friendly  message  to  the  colonists,  for  some  unknown 
reason — perhaps  the  arrival  of  the  additional  emigrants — changing 
his  policy,  assumed  an  attitude  of  open  hostility.  He  sent  a  mes- 
senger to  Pljmouth,  who,  without  any  explanation,  presented  "a 
bundle  of  new  arrows,  lapped  in  a  rattlesnake's  skin."  The  English, 
amazed  at  this  odd  present,  were  informed  by  Squanto,  "that  it  im- 
ported enmity,  and  was  no  better  than  a  challenge."  On  bearing 
this,  the  governor,  with  much  spirit,  drawing  forth  the  arrows,  stuffed 
the  skin,  in  turn,  with  powder  and  shot,  and  sent  it  back,  adding 
a  bold  message  of  defiance.  The  hostile  chief,  his  superstition 
awakened  by  the  mysterious  contents  of  the  skin,  declined  taking 


THK  BITTLEMKNT  OF  NBW   ENGLAND. 


99 


up  the  gauntlet  he  had  so  hastily  thrown  doMm— "insomuch  as  ho 
would  not  onbe  touch  the  powder  and  shot,  nor  suifer  it  to  stay  in 
hid  house  or  country.  "Whereupon,  the  measongiDr  refusing  It,  an- 
other took  it  up;  and  having  been  posted  fVom  place  to  place  a  long 
time,  at  length  it  came  whole  back  again."  Vigilance  being  thus 
awakened  among  the  colonists,  they  fortifled  the  town,  and  under 
the  direction  of  Standi'sh,  observed  strict  rules  of  discipline.  Squanto 
also  thought  proper  to  do  his  part,  by  informing  his  countrymen 
that  the  English  had  the  plague  buried  in  their  store-house,  and 
could  lot  it  loose  on  the  whole  country,  if  they  had  a  mind.       '"" 

In  the  summer  of  1622,  two  vessels  were  dispatched  from  Eng- 
land by  a  Mr.  Weston,  which  landed  at  Wessagusset  (Weymouth) 
some  fifty  or  sixty  idle  and  profligate  emigrants.  By  their  shiflless- 
ness,  and  the  encroachments  of  the  neighbouring  savages,  (who  soon 
saw  of  what  stuff  the/  were  made,)  they  were  reduced  ere  long  to  a 
woefVil  condition.  lu  March  of  the  same  spring,  a  messenger  was 
dispatohed  to  Plymouth  ^'xia  "a  pitiAil  narration  of  their  lamentable 
and  weak  estate,  and  of  the  Indians'  carriages,**  (demeanour,)  "whose 
boldness  increased  abundantly,  insomuch  that  the  victuals  they  ge ', 
they  would  take  out  of  their  pots,  and  eat  before  their  faces;  yea,  if 
in  anything  they  gainsaid  them,  they  were  ready  to  hold  a  knife  ut 
their  breasts;  that,  to  give  them  content,  they  had  hanged  one  of  them, 
that  stole  the  Indiana  com,  and  yet  they  regarded  it  not;  that  one  of 
their  company  was  turned  salvage;  that  their  people  had  mostly 
forsaken  the  town,  and  made  their  rendezvous  where  they  got  their 
victual,  because  they  would  not  take  the  pains  to  bring  it  home; 
that  they  had  sold  their  clothes  for  corn,  and  were  ready  to  starve 
both  with  cold  and  hunger  also,  because  they  cuuld  not  endure  to 
get  victuals  by  reason  of  their  nakedness.** 

These  disagreeable  tidings  of  Indian  hostility  were  presently 
alarmingly  confirmed.  News  arriving  that  Massasoit  was  mortally 
ill,  Winslow,  with  Hobbamock  and  another  companion,  was  dis- 
patched to  his  assistance,  with  such  simple  remedies  as  the  poverty 
of  the  colony  could  afford.  The  goodness  of  the  chief  and  the  at- 
tachment of  his  followers  was  evidenced  by  the  grief  of  Hobbamock, 
who,  on  the  way,  "manifesting  a  troubled  spirit,  brake  forth  into 
these  speeches:  Neen  womasu  sagamusi  Keen  toomasu  sagamusl 
/^ — <  My  loving  sachem,  my  loving  sachem!  Many  have  I  known, 
but  never  any  like  thee.'  And  turning  him  to  me'*  (Winslow) 
"said,  whilst  I  lived  I  should  never  see  his  like  among  the  Indians; 


-  V?"7T^™^         '^ 


100 


THE  PKUPLK'S  BOOK  OF  UISTOBY. 


saying  he  was  no  liar,  he  was  not  bloody  and  cruel,  like  other  In* 
diansj  in  anger  and  passion  he  was  soon  reclaimed;  easy  to  be 
reconciled  toward  such  as  had  offended  him;  ruled  by  reason  in 
such  measure  that  he  would  not  scorn  the  advice  of  mean  "  (humble) 
"  men ;  and  that  he  governed  his  men  better  with  few  strokes  than 
others  did  with  many;  truly  loving  where  he  loved;  yea,  he  feured 
we  had  not  a  faithful  friend  left  among  the  Indians;  showing  how 
he  oil  times  restrained  their  malice,  &o.,  continuing  a  long  speech 
with  such  signs  of  lamentation  and  unfeigned  sorrow,  as  it  would 
have  made  the  hardest  heart  relent" 

Arriving  at  Pokanoket,  the  visitors,  with  difficulty,  forced  their 
way  into  the  king's  house,  which  was  so  crowded  with  Indians,  that, 
although  the  latter  did  their  best  to  make  a  passage,  it  was  no  easy 
matter.  This  assembly  was  performing  incantations  for  his  relief, 
"making  such  a  hellish  noise,"  says  Winslow,  "as  it  distempered  us 
that  were  well,  and  therefore  unlike  to  ease  hira  that  was  sick." 
His  sight  was  quite  gone,  but  on  hearing  who  had  come,  he  put  forth 
his  hand,  and  took  that  of  the  Englishman.  "Then  he  said  twice, 
though  very  inwardly,"  (faintly,)  "Keen  Winsnoxvf  which  is  to  say, 
'Art  thou  Winslow'?  I  answered  Ahhe,  that  is  yes.  Then  he 
doubled  these  words,  Jfatta  neen  uxmckanet  namen,  Winsnowl  that 
is  to  say,  'Oh,  Winslow,  I  shall  never  see  thee  again.'"  Despite 
the  unfavourable  circumstances,  his  guest  contrived  to  get  down  his 
throat  a  "confection  of  many  comfortable  conserves,"  which  wrought 
so  effectually  that  the  patient  soon  began  to  mend  apace.  The  other 
sick  in  his  village  was  also  physicked  and  tended  by  the  good  Wins- 
low ;  and  Massasoit,  finding  himself  recovering,  "  broke  forth  into  the 
following  speeches,  'Now  I  see  the  English  are  my  friends  and  love 
nie;  and  whilst  I  live,  I  will  never  forget  this  kindness  they  have 
showed  me.'"  In  gratitude,  he  revealed  a  formidable  plot  among 
the  Massachusetts  and  other  tribes,  which  he  had  lately  been  solicited 
to  join,  for  the  destruction  of  the  two  settlements  of  Plymouth  and 
Weasagusset.  a^iwjj^j  liJm  . .  fes^^H 

Followed  by  the  blessings  of  the  whole  village,  the  Englishmen 
returned,  lodging  on  their  way,  at  Mattapoiset,  with  the  sachem 
Caunbitant,  whose  attitude  had  been  dubious,  and  whom  they  wished 
to  conciliate.  "By  the  way,"  says  our  old  traveller,  "I  had  much 
conference  with  him,  so  likewise  at  his  house,  he  oeing  a  nottblo 
politician,  yet  full  of  merry  jests  and  squibs,  and  never  better  pleased 
than  when  the  like  are  returned  again  upon  him."    The  people  of 


THE  SETTLEMENT  OF  NSW  SNQLAND. 


101 


this  town  Winslow  endeavoured  to  impress  with  the  truths  of  reli- 
gion, and  especially  of  the  ten  commandments;  "all  which  they 
hearkened  unto  with  great  attention;  and  liked  well  of;  only  che 
seventh  commandment  they  excepted  against,  thinking  there  were 
many  inconveniences  in  it" 


:»., 


-•><«« 


yv    ^^x(j 


xxiirXiuii    vxx« 


".di 


BXPBDITION  OF  8TANDISH  TO  WSTMOUTH. — DARIKO  POLICY. 
— SLAUOHTBU  OP  THB  CONSPIRING  INDIANS. — THB  COL- 
ONY OP  WB8T0N  BROIBN  UP. — PRIVATIONS  AND  8UF- 
PERINOS   AT    PLYMOUTH:    DROUGHT:    8BA80NABLB 
SUPPLY    OP    RAIN. — ADDITIONAL    ARRIVAL. 

The  information  given  by  Massasoit  being  confirmed  by  farther 
evidence,  it  was  resolved,  with  extraordinary  boldness,  to  take  the 
offensive,  and  strike  a  deadly  blow  at  the  heads  of  the  conspiracy. 
Captain  Standisb,  with  only  eight  companions,  set  forth  for  Wessa- 
gusset,  to  protect  the  people  there,  and  especially  to  get  the  head  of 
one  of  the  chief  conspirators — "Wittawamut,  a  notable  insulting 
villain,  who  had  formerly  imbued  his  hands  in  the  blood  of  French 
and  English,  and  had  oft  boasted  of  his  own  valor  and  derided  their 
weakness,  especially  because,  as  he  said,  they  died  crying,  making  sour 
faces,  more  like  children  than  men."  The  captain,  on  arriving  there, 
warned  the  settlers  of  their  danger,  and  collected  them  within  the 
town.  An  Indian  spy,  who  presently  entered,  under  pretence  of 
trading  in  furs,  reported  to  his  people  that,  though  he  spoke 
smoothly,  "he  saw  by  his  eyes  that  he  was  angry  in  his  heart." 
Seeing  their  plot  discovered,  the  conspiring  chiefs  made  no  attempt 
to  conceal  their  enmity.  "One  Pecksuot,  who  was  a  paniese,  being  a 
man  of  notable  spirit,"  told  Hobbamock,  who  had  come  with  the 
party,  that  they  had  heard  that  Standish  was  come  to  kill  them — 
"tell  him,"  he  said,  "we  know  it,  but  fear  him  not,  neither  will  w6 
shun  him;  but  let  him  begin  when  he  dare,  he  shall  not  take  us  at 
unawares."  ..„,....  .^?t^  .,vf»  i^-A^H^m^/i,-:'  -vli'-v  i  -i^-  ..  •  ■■'  ^ 
One  or  two  at  a  time,  the  savages  would  present  themselves,  whet- 
ting their  knives  before  the  captain's  face,  and  making  other  men- 


i 


^ 


! 


V 


102 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


acing  gestures.  "Amongst  the  rest,  Wittawamut  bragged  of  the 
excellency  of  his  knife.  On  the  end  of  the  handle  waa  pictured  a 
woman's  face,  'but,'  said  he,  'I  have  another  at  home  that  hath  killed 
both  French  and  English,  and  that  hath  a  man's  face  on  it;  and  by 
and  by  these  two  must  marry.'  Further  he  said  of  that  knife  he 
there  had,  Hannaim  namen,  hannaim  michen,  matta  cuts,  that  is  to 
say,  'By  and  by  it  should  see,  and  by  and  by  it  should  eat,  but  not 
speak'  *  *  These  things  the  captain  observed,  yet  bare  with 
patience  for  the  present. 

"On  the  next  day,  seeing  he  could  not  get  many  together  at  once, 
and  this  Pecksuot  and  Wittawamut  being  both  together,  with  an- 
other man,  and  a  youth  of  some  eighteen  years  of  age  (which  was 
brother  to  Wittawamut,  and,  villain-like,  trod  in  his  steps)  and  hav- 
ing about  as  many  of  his  own  company  in  a  room  with  them,  gave 
the  word  to  his  men,  and  the  door  having  been  fast  shut,  began, 
himself  with  Pecksuot,  and  snatching  his  own  knife  from  his  neck 
though  with  much  struggling,  killed  him  therewith,  (the  point 
whereof  he  had  made  as  sharp  as  a  needle  and  ground  the  back  also 
to  an  edge.)  Wittawamut  and  the  other  man  the  rest  killed,  and 
took  the  youth,  whom  the  captain  caused  to  be  hanged.  But  it  is 
incredible  how  many  wounds  these  two  pinesea"  (panieses)  "received 
before  they  died,  not  making  any  fearful  noise,  but  catching  at  their 
weapons  and  striving  to  the  last."  Three  more  were  killed  by  the 
same  party,  and  in  a  fight  in  the  woods  (in  which  Hobbamock  took 
an  active  part)  the  Indians  were  defeated  and  put  to  flight 

The  news  of  these  successes  was  received  with  much  joy  at  Ply- 
mouth, and  the  head  of  Wittawamut,  a  grisly  token  of  vengeance, 
was  affixed  to  the  fort  at  that  place.  The  worthy  Robinson,  indeed, 
received  the  account  of  this  sanguinary  (though  perhaps  necessary) 
affair,  with  great  grief  and  mortification.  "Would,"  he  writes  la- 
mentingly  to  his  exiled  people,  "that  you  had  converted  some  of 
them  before  you  killed  any." 

Weston's  colony,  which  had  proved  so  miserably  unfitted  for  the 
country,  was  now  completely  broken  up;  a  part  of  the  settlers  pro- 
ce^^Jing  to  Manhegin,  and  the  rest  accompanying  Standish  to  Ply- 
mouth. They  might  probably  have  remained  in  security  where  they 
were;  for  such  an  impression  did  this  fierce  and  energetic  conduct 
make  on  tho  hostile  savages,  that,  for  fifty  years  they  made  no 
further  attempts  against  the  English. 

The  summer  of  1623  brought  grievous  famine  and  distress,  the 


THE  SETTLEMENT  OF  NEW  ENGLAND. 


108 


colonists  being  ao*   ^elled  to  search  the  woods  for  nuts  and  the  sea 
sands  for  clamt^,        heir  only  sustenance.    Once,  it  is  said,  a  pint  of 
corn  being  the  oiuire  stock  of  provisions  in  the  town,  it  was  divided, 
giving  five  kernels  to  each^^an  incident  since  commemorated,  by  a 
similar  division  at  the  entertainments  of  their  descendants,  in  the 
same  venerated  spot    A  long  drought  also  lihreatened  the  destruc- 
tion of  the  crops,  to  secure  which  all  their  little  store  of  com  had 
been  planted.    These  sufferings  they  bore  wi&  extraordinary  forti- 
tude and  cheerfulness;  and  finally  set  aside  a  day  of  fasting  and 
humiliation,  and  prayer  for  relief  to  God,  "if  our  continuance  there 
might  any  way  stand  with  his  glory  and  our  good"— a  sublime  and 
touching  sentiment.    Toward  the  close  of  the  day,  clouds  gathered; 
"and  on  the  next  morning,"  says  the  narrator,  with  quaint  eloquence, 
"  distilled  such  soft,  sweet,  and  moderate  showers  of  rain,  continuing 
some  fourteen  days  and  mixed  with  such  seasonable  weather,  as  it 
were  hard  to  say  whether  our  withered  corn,  or  our  drooping  affeo* 
lions,  were  most  quickened  and  revived;  such  was  the  bounty  and 
goodness  of  our  God." 

The  Indians  were  greatly  surprised  at  this  unlooked-for  result,  and 
especially,  according  to  Winslow,  at  "the  difference  between  their 
conjuration,  and  our  invocation  to  God  for  rain ;  theirs  being  mixed 
with  such  storms  and  tempests,  as  sometimes,  instead  of  doing  them 
good,  it  layeth  the  com  flat  on  the  ground,  to  their  prejudice;  but 
ours  in  so  gentle  and  seasonable  a  manner,  as  they  had  never  ob- 
served the  like."  The  harvest  proved  plentiful,  and  all  fear  of 
starvation  was  allayed.  In  July  and  August  of  the  same  summer, 
two  ships,  with  sixty  additional  settlers,  arrived.  In  a  letter  sent  by 
those  who  yet  remained,  was  the  following  prophetic  and  consoling 
sentiment:  "Let  it  not  be  grievous  to  you  that  you  have  been  the 
instraments  to  break  the  ice  for  others  who  come  after  you  with  less 
difficulty ;  the  hoixor  shall  he  yours  to  the  world's  end:  we  bear  you 
always  in  our  breasts,  and  our  hearty  affection  is  toward  yon  all,  as 
ore  the  hearts  of  hundreds  more  who  never  saw  your  feces." 


',  > 


1 .-  .w  -'         ■ 


I .  .1    1'.  ;  .  I 


",:   •!  hi  ^.  ■■■;    :m    :  I 


I 


104         THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 

I'.'ty  ^'rfj  iMfii  *■'  ,-1  "^»,'vi  i.  ; 

V!*;''l"  ■^' '  CHAPTER   ?in.    : .  '■;  /   ' 

KEW  8BTTLIKINT8  FOUNDED:  NEW  HAMPSHIRE  AND  XAIKl 

— BNDICOTT'S    COMPANY. — THE     REVELIERS     OP     MERRT 

MOUNT:  BROXEN  UP  BT  THE  PURITANS. — SETTLEMENT  OP 

MASSACHUSETTS. — FOUNDATION  OF  BOSTON — GREAT 

EMIGRATION. — MORTALITY  AND  SUFFERING. 

The  progress  of  the  Plymouth  colony  was  slow,  but  sure,  and 
although  the  original  settlement,  at  the  end  of  ten  years,  numbered 
but  three  hundred  souls,  at  an  early  day,  it  began  to  send  offshoots 
into  the  adjoining  regions.  In  1625,  their  admirable  pastor,  Robin- 
son, died  at  Leyden,  having  been  prevented  from  emigrating  by  an 
adverse  influence  in  England.  The  remainder  of  his  congregation, 
as  soon  as  practicable,  joined  their  brethren  in  America.  Enterprise, 
directed  to  the  same  region,  was  revived  in  the  mother-country. 
New  patents  were  issued  to  Gorges  and  other  projectors,  and  settle- 
ments, as  early  as  1628,  were  made  on  the  banks  of  the  Piscataqua. 
Portsmouth  and  Dover  were  settled,  and  the  foundation  of  New^ 
Hampshire  was  thus  permanently  laid.  That  of  Maine  was  not  long 
in  succeeding,  the  temporary  trading  and  fishing  stations  on  its  coast 
being  gradually  converted  to  permanent  occupation.  Roger  Conant, 
a  man  of  extraordinary  courage  and  perseverance,  with  only  three 
companions,  laid  the  foundation  of  a  settlement  at  Naumkeag  (now 
Salem)  near  Cape  Ann.  Preparations  for  a  Puritan  emigration,  on 
an  extensive  scale,  were  made  in  England;  and  in  the  summer  of 
1628,  John  Endicott,  a  man  of  brave  and  religious,  but  rugged  and 
bigoted  nature,  with  about  a  hundred  companions,  arrived  at  the 
diminutive  outpost  of  Salem.  The  vigorous  and  practical  spirit  of 
Puritanism,  as  well  as  its  more  gloomy  and  ascetic  qualifications^ 
were  not  long  in  making  their  demonstration. 

"  A  small  settlement,  named  Mount  Wollaston,  (Quincy),  had  fallen 
into  the  hands  of  one  Thomas  Morton,  described  as  'a  petty  iuggin" 
attorney  of  Furnival's  Inn,'  who,  with  a  crew  of  dissolute  compan- 
ions, lived  there  in  much  excess  and  licentiousness.  lie  changed 
the  name  of  the  place  to  Merry  Mount  ('as  if  this  jollity  could  have 
lasted  always')  and,  besides  selling  fiie-arms  to  the  Indians,  kept  a 
haunt  for  all  the  idle  serving  men  and  lewd  companions  in  the  coun- 
try.    Thus  they  lived  for  some  time,  'vainly  quafliug  and  drinkin" 


THE    SETTLEMENT   OF  NEW  ENOLAND. 


105 


both  wine  and  strong  liquors  in  great  excess  (as  some  have  reported, 
ten  pound's  worth  in  a  mbrning)  setting  up  a  May -pole,  drinking 
and  dancing  about  it,  and  frisking  about  i!  like  so  many  fairies,  or 
furies  rather — ^yea,  and  worse  practices,  «  »  »  The 
said  Morton,  likewise,  to  show  his  poetry,  composed  sundry  rhymes 
and  verses,  some  tending  to  lasciviousness,  and  others  to  the  detrac- 
tion and  scandal  of  some  persons'  names,  which  he  affixed  to  his  idle 
or  idol  May-pole.'  .    •  y  inn  , :  v .  -  ui 

"These  dissolute  courses  received  iheir  first  check  from  'that 
worthy  gentleman,  Mr.  John  Endicott,'  who,  soon  after  the  founda- 
tion of  his  settlement,  paid  them  a  visit,  cut  down  their  May-pole, 
read  them  a  terrible  lecture,  and  once  more  changed  the  name  of 
their  abode,  calling  it  Mount  Dagon.  The  whole  community  was 
finally  broken  up  by  a  small  force  dispatched  from  Plymouth,  under 
Captain  Standish.  This  party  seized  Morton,  and  'demolished  his 
hoase,  that  it  might  no  longer  be  a  roost  for  such  unclean  birds.' 
The  culprit  was  sent  over  seas.  'Notwithstanding,  in  England  he 
got  free  again,  and  wrote  an  infamous  and  scurrilous  book  against 
many  of  the  godly  and  chief  men  of  the  country,  full  of  lies  and 
slanders,  and  full  fraught  with  profane  calumpies  against  their  names 
and  persons  and  the  ways  of  God.'  Beturning  imprudently  to  Bos- 
ton, he  was  imprisoned  'for  the  aforesaid  book  and  other  things,' 
and  finally  '  being  grown  old  in  wickedness,  at  last  ended  his  life  in 
Piacataqua.'"* 

Many  persons  of  wealth  and  eminence  of  the  Puritan  party  having 
formed  the  design  of  emigration,  a  charter,  in  1629,  was  obtained 
from  the  king  for  the  formation  of  a  new  company,  under  the  title 
of  the  "Qovemor  and  Company  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  in  New 
England."  In  the  latter  part  of  June,  that  same  year,  two  hundred 
more  emigrants,  dispatched  by  this  corporation,  arrived  at  Salem,  and 
a  new  settlement  was  founded  at  Charlestown.  During  the  months 
of  June  and  July,  1680,  eleven  ships,  bearing  a  great  number  of 
emigrants,  arrived  in  Massachusetts  Bay.  At  this  time,  the  only 
person  living  on  the  peninsula  of  Shawmut  (the  site  of  the  present 
city  of  Boston)  was  an  Episcopal  clergyman,  the  Rev.  William  Black- 
stone,  who,  on  account  of  ecclesiastical  scruples,  had  quitted  Eng- 
land, and  betaken  himself  to  the  American  wilderness.  He  had 
built  a  cottage  and  planted  an  orchard.  The  new  comers  first 
settled  at  Charlestown,  where  a  small  colony  had  already  been  estab- 

*  Discoverers,  &c.,  of  America. 


106 


THE  PEOPLB'S  BOOK  OF  HISTOBT.   T 


lished;  but,  on  the  invitation  of  Mr.  Blookstone,  and  attracted  by 
the  natural  advantages  of  the  place,  their  governor,  the  celebrated 
John  Winthrop,  with  6ther  persons  of  distinction,  removed  thither. 
The  principal  place  of  the  plantation  was,  accordingly,  erected  on 
that  Admirable  locUity,  which,  in  all  the  wide  region  of  which  it  i& 
the  metropolis,  could  hardly  find  a  rival,  in  beauty  or  convenience. 
In  the  course  of  the  year,  five  more  vessels,  with  more  emigrants 
making  the  number  fifteen  hundred,  arrived.  Buildings  were  erected 
with  all  possible  dispatch,  but  such  were  the  numbers,  that  proper 
shelter  for  all  was  unobtainable.  '  P'lfore  December,  two  hun- 
dred had  died  of  disease  occasioned  by  their  hardships,  and  more 
than  a  hundred  had  retreated  to  England.  These  sufferings  were 
endured  with  much  fortitude  by  the  survivors.  "We  here  enjoy 
God  and  Jesus  Christ,"  wrote  Winthrop  (who  had  lost  a  son)  to  his 
wife,  "and  is  not  this  enough?  I  would  not  have  altered  my  course 
though  I  had  foreseen  all  these  afflictiona  I  never  had  more  peace 
of  mind."  Despite  these  discouragements,  the  spirit  of  enterprise 
was  fairly  awakened  in  the  Puritan  party,  and  during  the  next  few 
years,  such  numbers  continued  to  flock  to  the  new  colony,  that  an 
Order  in  Council  was  issued  by  the  king  to  restrain  the  emigration. 
Nevertheless,  for  a  long  time,  great  numbers  of  the  persecuted  faction 
resorted  to  Massachusetts — ^the  year  1685  being  especially  memorable 
for  the  arrival  of  a  large  company,  among  whom  were  the  afterwards 
celebrated  Hugh  Peters  (chaplain  to  Cromwell)  and  Mr.  (afterwards 
Sir  Henry)  Vane,  who,  the  year  after  his  arrival,  was  elected  gov- 
ernor. It  is  said  that  Hampden,  Cromwell,  and  Pym,  (three  names 
the  most  formidable  in  the  great  revolution,)  had  also  embarked, 
but,  by  an  order  of  court,  were  constrained  to  remain,  to  the  de- 
•truction  of  the  power  and  the  person  that  withheld  them.  ..' 

i<:ill.  if!f  fiiil  ■jlTI/'U  .H  Wf  >):;■,»' IJ;;!'  '  !.',  !.  •.:•!;  .1  ;  ■;•  ■  1  ■  ,  .  .  f 
j->  'I-  'f(i'  ,';•  ,',..)-i'--  j;  *.ii;i:.:;-/  .^;ij  ■  i  •  ;■  ■  .<-•■-■'  -'l  '.  '  •  ■ 
vi   ('1      'ill    ,'.:i;J     ^i   ';    .;/,         ../;m      ^|IuJ:I       . .  ,.  ^'      .         l:..-fj- 

;  ;    '::•"■  •   ii  '<  ,-.'-■  ■[>•  r^.,  .  .      ,'    i  ,  ,-'i   _  '  . 


^..;i' 


.-■■i'\r  1 
.  I  .         .   .,1 


:/. 


';:'     .  -•. 


THE  SETTLEMENT   07   NEW  ENGLAND. 


107 


CW    A   D  T  T?  D     T  "tr    i<> 

!   1  I  )t 


M« 


tO'lftl 


'»  n;:  /( 


d 


GHiBACTSR  OF  THB  FOVNDBBS  OF  KASSAOHVSBIIB. — BBOU- 

LATI0N8   FOB   PUBLIC    HOBALITT:    FOB   APPABBl.  BIG. — 
|,,.  .^.ABUSINQ  PSNALTIBS. — INTOLBBANOB  IN  BBLIGION.     ,h., 
ujf]      (^,.,.^,7— COMMBNCBMBNT    OF    PBB8BCUTI0N.    >  norn;ii>>    ' 


"The  wealth  and  importance  of  this  new  community  were  com- 
mensurate with  the  growing  power  of  the  Puritan  party.  That 
party,  originally  so  humble  and  depressed,  was  already  beginning 
to  uplift  its  yoice  in  the  councils  of  the  English  nation,  and  to  pro- 
voke fresh  and  suicidal  efforts  of  that  arbitrary  power,  which  was 
destined,  ere  long,  to  fall,  with  such  terrible  circumstances,  before  it. 
Accordingly,  the  men  who  now  transferred  their  fortunes  to  the 
New  World,  tiiiough  aiming,  as  earnestly  as  their  predecessors,  at 
the  foundation  of  a  religious  commonwealth,  brought  with  them 
somewhat  of  that  insolence  which  is  always  the  handmaid  of  new 
prosperity.  '  Their  characters,'  says  the  candid  and  judicious  Baylies, 
'were  more  elevated,  but  their  dispositions  were  less  kindly,  and 
their  tempers  more  austere,  sour,  and  domineering  than  those  of  their 
Plymouth  brethren.  They  had  brought  themselves  to^  positive  con- 
viction of  their  own  evangelical  purity  and  perfect  godliness,  and 
therefore  they  tolerated  not  even  the  slightest  difference  in  theolo- 
gical opinions.'  They  were  composed,  in  short,  of  that  stuff  which, 
according  to  circumstances,  makes  a  martyr  or  a  persecutor;  and, 
unfortunately  for  their  reputation,  the  latter  had  opportunity  for 
development  This,  however,  can  hardly  be  laid  at  the  door  of 
their  &itb.  Having  power  to  persecute,  they  persecuted;  and  where 
is  the  religious  community,  which,  having  such  power,  ever  forbore 
to  use  it?  Until,  indeed,  aroused  by  opposition  (which  did  not 
occur  for  many  years,  the  arbitrary  and  intolerant  spirit  of  the  author- 
ities, for  the  most  part,  lay  dormant,  only  indulging  itself  in  muni- 
cipal regulations  and  fantastic  penalties,  rather  fitted  to  provoke 
mirth  than  indignation."* 

Though  the  sweeping  generalities  and  searching  particulars  of  a 
"  Maine  Law,"  never  suggested  themselves  to  the  legislation  of  our 
forefathers,  acts  for  the  restraint  of  intemperance  were  not  wanting. 

*  Discoverers,  &c.,  of  America. 


{     iii 


,;l 


108 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTOBT. 


As  early  as  1684,  we  find  a  traveller  complaining  that  if  a  gentleman 
went  into  either  of  the  two  public  houses  in  Boston,  he  was  followed 
by  an  officer  appointed  for  the  purpose,  who  watched  his  potationa 
narrowly,  and  when  of  opinion  that  he  had  enough,  would  counter- 
mand his  orders,  and  cut  off  all  ftirther  supply — "  beyond  which," 
says  our  author,  bitterly,  "he  could  not  get  one  drop!"  Another 
ordinance  enjoined  on  all  constables  to  keep  special  watch  over  all 
"common  coasters,  unprofitable  fowlers,  and  tobacco  takers."  But 
when  the  clergy  began  to  use  the  inhibited  weed,  the  severity  of 
this  provision  was  relaxed.  Vanity  in  dress  was  severely  repre- 
hended, especially  "immoderate  great  sleeves,  slash  apparel,  and 
long- wigs."  Any  one  who  should  "give  offence  to  his  neighbor  by 
the  excessive  length  of  his  hair,"  might  be  arraigned  before  the 
General  Court,  and  compelled  to  remove  the  obnoxious  surplusage. 

No  regular  system  of  law,  common  or  statute,  being  adopted  at 
first,  sentences  of  punishment  were  framed  according  to  the  ingenious 
fancy  of  the  court  These  sentences,  gravely  perpetuated  in  tho 
records,  sound  oddly  enough  to  modern  jurisprudence.  Josiaa 
Plaistowe,  for  stealing,  is  fined,  and  doomed  thereafter  to  be  called 
Josias,  "and  not  Mr.  as  he  formerly  used  to  be."  "Mrs.  Cornish, 
found  suspicious  of  incontinency,"  is  (probably  in  default  of  suffi- 
cient evidence  for  conviction)  "seriously  admonished  to  take  heed." 
Mr.  Robert  Shorthose,  who  had  thought  proper  to  swear  by  the^lood 
of  Ood,  is  adjudged  to  have  his  tongue  put  in  a  cleft  stick,  and  so  to 
remain  for  half  an  hour.  Edward  Palmer,  who  had  made  a  new 
pair  of  stocks  for  the  town,  for  presenting  the  extortionate  bill  of 
two  pounds  and  upward,  is  sentenced  to  pay  a  fine  of  five,  and  for 
one  hour  personally  to  test  the  efficacy  of  his  own  handiwork— a 
salutary  warning  to  all  public  creditors.  Nothing  seems  to  havo 
been  more  sharply  repressed  than  any  question  of  the  authority  of 
the  court  In  1632,  according  to  the  record,  "Thomas  Knower  was 
set  in  the  bilboes  for  threatening  ye  court,  that  if  he  should  be  pun- 
ished, he  would  have  it  tried  in  England,  whether  he  was  lawfully 
punished  or  no." 

Religious  conformity,  at  first  not  enforced  to  a  sanguinary  extreme, 
was  a  regular  part  of  the  political  system.  All  persons,  under  pain 
of  a  fine,  were  compelled  to  attend  meeting.  Mr.  Painter,  it  seems, 
"on  a  sudden  turned  Anabaptist,"  and  would  not  have  his  child 
baptised,  "Whereupon,"  says  Governor  Winthrop,  with  delightful 
discrimination  between  an  opinion  and  the  expression  of  it,  "because 


THE  SETTLEMENT  OF  NEW  ENOLAND. 


109 


be  was  very  poor,  so  as  no  other  but  corporal  punishment  could  be 
fastened  on  him,  he  was  ordered  to  be  whipped,  not  for  hia  optnum, 
but  for  reproaching  the  LorcPa  Ordinance.  He  endured  his  punish* 
ment  with  much  obstinacy,  and  said,  boastingly,  that  Ood  had  mar* 
vellously  assisted  him."  Hugh  Bretts,  for  heresy,  was  ordered  to 
be  gone  out  of  the  jurisdiction,  "and  not  return  again,  on  pain  of 
being  hanged."  ,  By  a  piece  of  intolerance,  quite  as  unjustifiable  as 
any  which  the  Puritans  themselves  had  endured  in  England,  restraint 
was  laid  on  the  consciences  of  the  Indians,  who,  under  penalty  of 
five  pounds,  were  forbidden  to  worship  the  devil,  or  to  practice  any  of 
the  religious  rifes  of  their  forefathers.  It  was  ordered,  moreover,  at 
a  later  day,  that  if  any  negro  slaves  should  take  refuge  among  them, 
as  many  Indians  should  be  "captivated"  in  their  place. 


CTT    A    T>  T*  T?  T)      V 


RBV.    ROOBR  WILLIAK8. — HIS    LIBERAL    OPINIONS. — HE    IS 
PERSECUTED  BT  THE  AUTHORITIES  OF  MASSACHUSETTS. — 
EXPELLED   FROM  THAT  PROTINCE. — TAKES    REFUGE    IN 
THE    WILDERNESS. — FOUNDS    PROVIDENCE    PLANTA- 
TIONS AND  THE  STATE  OF  RHODE  ISLAND. 

Intolerance  in  the  province  of  Massachusetts,  ere  long,  was  the 
exciting  cause  of  fresh  schemes  of  colonization.  Roger  Williams,  a 
clergyman  of  liberal  opinions  in  religion  and  enlightened  views  in 
politics,  in  1681,  attracted  by  the  expectation  of  tolerance  in  the 
newly-peopled  wilderness,  made  his  way  to  Boston.  He  was  first 
settled  at  Salem,  but  on  account  of  the  illiberal  hostility  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts authorities,  who  had  some  idea  of  his  sentiments,  removed 
to  Plymouth,  where  he  was  appointed  assistant  minister,  and  by  his 
piety  and  eloquence,  became  much  endeared  to  the  people.  From 
benevolent  motives,  he  took  much  pains  to  learn  the  language  and 
manners  and  to  conciliate  the  affections  of  the  neighbouring  Indians. 
"God  was  pleased,"  he  says,  "to  give  me  a  painful,  patient  spirit,  to 
lodgQ  with  them  in  their  filthy,  smoky  holes,  even  while  I  lived  in 
Plymouth  and  Salem,  to  gain  their  tongue."  Massasoit  and  the  two 
great  sachems  of  the  Narragansetts  (Cauonicus  and  his  nephew  Mi- 


no 


THE  PSOFLS'S  BOOK  OV  BI8T0BT. 


aDtonimo)  aooorded  him  (heir  frieadahip — that  of  the  latter  eventu< 
ally  proving  of  no  small  moment  to  the  prosperity  and  even  the 
existence  of  the  New  England  colonies.  He  resided  two  years  in 
Plymouth,  and  then  moved  again  to  Salem,  followed  by  a  oonsidera- 
ble  number  of  his  congregation. 

')«. There  (August,  16S4)  he  was  regularly  installed  as  pastor,  and  by 
his  liberal  preaching  speedily  revived  the  prejudice  and  hostility  of 
the  authoritiea  In  that  day,  it  was  considered  a  startling  novelty 
to  declare  that  a  man  was  the  proper  guardian  of  his  own  religious 
belief,  and  that  the  state  had  no  right  to  intermeddle  with  it.  In 
reading  the  terrible  history  of  martyrdom,  three  rei^s  before  this, 
we  do  not  find  many  ol^ections  raised  to  the  practice  of  burning  mea 
alive,  abstractly  considered — but  the  question  was  debated  with 
intense  earnestness  as  to  what  shade  of  opinion  was  fittest  to  be  re- 
pressed by  the  flames.  Probably  a  good  many  tenets  might  have  been 
enumerated,  which  nearly  all  parties  in  the  English  Church  would 
have  united  in  denouncing  as  worthy  of  punishment  Yet,  doubtless, 
it  was  well  for  mankind  that  martyrdoms,  though  on  points  ostensibly 
the  most  trifling  and  immaterial,  should  have  been  bravely  undergone; 
for,  if  it  had  once  been  established  that  death  and  suJSbring  would 
make  men  belie  the  faith  that  was  in  them,  self-will  and  error,  and 
consequent  misfortune  to  the  race,  would  have  found  the  means  fur 
their  eternal  perpetuation.  To  the  end  of  time,  the  only  rule  would 
have  been  that  of  the  naturally  violent,  self-willed,  and  cruel.  But 
then,  and  long  after,  it  was  considered  allowable,  by  nearly  all  sects 
of  Christians,  to  repress  opinions  of  some  sort  by  the  strong  arm  of 
the  law.  It  was,  therefore,  to  the  no  small  annoyance  of  the  Massa- 
chusetts magistrates,  as  a  reflection  on  their  systematic  intolerance, 
that  the  preacher  boldly  announced  "  that  no  human  power  had  the 
right  to  intermeddle  in  matters  of  conscience ;  and  that  neither  church, 
nor  state,  nor  bishop,  nor  priest,  nor  king,  may  pr&oribe  the  smallest 
iota  of  religious  faith.  For  this,  he  maintained,  a  man  is  responsible 
to  God  alone."  Especially  he  deprecated  the  unjust  laws  compelling 
universal  attendance  at  meeting  and  a  compulsory  support  of  the 
clergy,  affirming  that  the  civil  power  "extends  only  to  the  bodies 
and  goods,  and  outward  estates  of  men,"  and  maintaining  that  with 
their  belief  "the  civil  magistrate  may  not  intermeddle,  even  to  stop 
a  church  from  apostacy  and  heresy." 

He  had  frequently  been  censured  by  the  authorities  or  vexatiously 
summoned  before  them ;  and  on  the  promulgation  of  these  incendiary 


'-*,"- 1^    '*'  • 


v.»--L"-H        ii,,ni:n    n- 1 1.  t.  i.i  ms 

THB      rOUNDEn      OF      nil  ODE      ISLAND. 

eoIlX  IN  WALES.  :»9;    ARRIVED  IN   NKW  ENGLAND,  1631;    FOUNDED    mOVIPENCt 

J636:    DIFD,    ICSa 


1 


-^'r^^ 


r  -*  ■  ■v^ii^r'f.^^^^iVr  -rivVvi^  ^>^''';-^:, 


'^-.■"^.■■'^".■•-^■•l^^.'v. 


TIIK  BBTTLKUBNT  OF  NEW  KMOLAND. 


Ill 


dootrineH,  ab  they  were  c^  sidered,  immediate  steps  were  taken  to 
bring  him  to  justioe.  Sal<im,  v  hich  supported  him,  woa  disfranchised, 
and  in  July,  1685,  the  auJmious  miniater  was  put  regularly  on  trial, 
for  his  "dangerous  opinions  "  After  a  j)r'  >tracted  debate,  he  and  his 
congregation  were  olio  wed  "time  to  consider  these  things  till  the 
next  General  Court,  and  tli  n,  either  to  give  satisfaotion,  or  expect 
the  sentence."  At  the  next  sitting,  in  October,  ar  Ije  still  refused  to 
recant,  a  resolution  was  passed  thi',  whereas  the  otteri'ler  "hath 
broached  and  divulged  divers  new  and  dangerous  opinions  against 
the  authority  of  magistrates,  and  yet  mairitaineth  the  same  without 
b  y  retractation,"  his  sentence  should  be  banishment  from  the  <••  >lony 
S  ""ered  to  remain  for  a  time,  many  people  "taken  with  an  appre- 
heasion  of  his  godliness,"  resorted  to  him. 

In  alarm  at  this  evidence  of  his  popularity,  the  court  dispatched 
a  vessel  to  seize  and  transport  him  over  seas  Informed  of  this 
design,  in  the  dead  of  winter,  (January,  1636)  he  left  his  family,  and 
took  refuge  in  the  forest,  where,  passing  from  one  Indian  hut  to 
another,  he  found  a  miserable  subsistence.  "These  ravens,"  he  says 
quaintly,  "fed  me  in  the  wilderness."  At  Mount  Hope,  v  here  the 
aged  Massasoit  was  still  residing,  he  was  kindly  received,  and  ob- 
tained from  that  chief  a  grant  of  land  on  the  Seekonk  river.  Thither 
a  number  of  his  friends,  in  the  spring,  betook  themselves  froni  Salem, 
and  commenced  a  plantation.  A  letter,  however,  present!'  came 
from  Winslow,  the  governor  of  Plymouth,  advising  him  that  lie  had 
settled  within  the  jurisdiction  of  that  colony,  and  requesting  him, 
for  fear  of  oflFence  to  their  powerful  neighbour,  Massachusetts,  to 
remove  yet  a  little  further.  The  fields  already  planted,  and  the 
partly-built  dwelling  were  abandoned,  and  with  five  comrades  he 
passed  down  Seekonk  river  in  a  canoe,  in  quest  of  a  home  yet  deeper 
in  the  wilderness.  As  they  paddled  toward  its  mouth,  an  Indian  on 
the  high  western  bank  saluted  them  with  the  friendly  cry,  "Wnat 
cheer,  Netop,*  what  cheer!"  Espying  a  fair  spring  and  a  fertile 
country,  the  exiled  preacher  and  his  companions  landed,  and  lbund>-d 
the  new  colony  of  "Providence  Plantations,"  on  the  site  of  the  po  ►• 
ulous  and  wealthy  city  which  yet  commemorates  the  name.  To  tb^ 
honour  of  this  little  asssociation  of  free  spirits,  they  resolved  that 
the  majority  should  govern  in  civil  matters  and  in  none  other,  and 
the  settlement  speedily  became,  what  Williams  had  earnestly  desired 
it  should — "a  shelter  for  persons  distressed  in  conscience." 

•  Friend    ^  '  '"'^  ''■    '  ^  ''■ 
Vol.  IV.— 36 


4jJ 


112 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTOBT. 


Bj  his  influence  with  the  Narr&gansett  sachems,  land  and  the  per- 
mission to  settle  had  been  obtained;  and  this  influence,  two  years 
after  the  foundation  of  Providence,  was  ag»''n  exerted  in  behalf  of  a 
large  number  of  persons,  expelled  from  Massachusetts  as  heretics 
but  "lovingly  entertained"  at  the  new  colony  of  religious  freedom. 
On  very  moderate  terms  he  procured  for  them  a  grant  of  the  beauti- 
ful island  of  Rhode  Island,  which  has  since  given  its  name  to  the 
entire  state,  and  a  very  flourishing  settlement  soon  sprang  up  there. 
"It  was  not  price  or  money,"  he  writes,  many  years  afterwards,  "that 
could  have  purchased  Rhode  Island.  It  was  obtained  by  love;  by 
the  love  and  favor  which  that  honorable  gentleman  Sir  Henry  Vane 
and  myself  had  with  the  great  sachem  Miantonimo,  about  the  league 
which  I  procured  between  the  Massachusetts  English  and  the  Nar- 
ragansetts,  in  the  Pequot  war."  (That  war,  with  the  causes  which 
originated  it,  and  the  important  influence  of  Williams,  in  behalf  of 
the  English,  will  presently  be  recounted.) 


lETTLElfBNT  OP  CONNECTICUT  BY  PLYMOUTH:   BY  MASSACHU- 

81TT8.  —  HARDSHIPS  OP  THE  COLONISTS. — POUNDATION  OP 

HARTPORD,  ETC.  —  EMIGRATION  UNDER  HOOKER:    NEW 

HAVEN  POUNDED.  —  COMMENCEMENT  OP  THE  PEQUOT 

WAR. INPLUENCE  OP   ROGER  WILLIAMS. 


A  SETTLEMENT  on  the  fertile  banks  of  the  Connecticut  river  had 
been  projected  at  an  early  day,  and  the  flourishing  commonwealth 
of  Massachusetts  had  been  urged  to  undertake  it;  but  the  authorities 
of  that  province,  deterred  by  many  opposing  circumstances,  especially 
the  dread  of  Indian  hostility,  had  deferred  or  neglected  it.  Witli 
more  courage  and  enterprise,  the  little  colony  of  Plymouth  undertook 
the  task.  Thence,  in  October  of  1633,  William  Holmes  sailed  for 
the  Connecticut  in  a  vessel,  carrying  tlie  frame  of  a  house,  and  a 
small  number  of  men,  to  establish  a  trading  post,  and  perhaps  a 
plantation.  Passing  up  that  river,  he  was  warned  off  by  the  Dutch, 
who  had  a  small  fort  at  what  is  now  known  as  Hartford,  but  sailed 
on,  and  built  his  house  a  few  miles  above,  a  little  below  the  junction 
of  the  Farmington  and  Connecticut  rivers. 


^ 


^■i^!:-*^'' 


./■:-;./ 


■7f^:  ',  i:. 


I 


( 


a- 


m- 


■mA 


;-:%y- 


AV 


'*• 


:/.-^'j 


■■^.►. 


■^flg^- 


::l. 


'mH 


THE  SETTLEMENT  OF  NEW  ENGLAND. 


113 


The  example  thus  set,-  emigration  from  Massachusetts  rapidly  fol- 
lowed. In  October,  1685,  a  company  of  sixty — men,  women,  and 
children — took  up  their  march  westward  from  Massachusetts.  These 
people,  their  supplies  cut  off  by  the  freezing  of  the-  river,  suffered 
great  hardships,  and  numbers  betook  themselves  to  the  coast.  In 
May,  the  next  year,  a  much  larger  emigration  occurred — a  hundred 
colonists,  under  the  Rev.  Thomas  Hooker,  a  divine  eminent  for  his 
eloquence  and  piety,  proceeding  overland  in  the  same  direction.  A 
numerous  drove  of  cattle,  the  milk  of  which  sustained  them  on  the 
way,  was  driven  before  them.  Small  settlements  had  already  been 
made  at  Hartford,  Wethersfield,  and  Windsor,  and  a  form  of  gov- 
ernment had  been  instituted  at  an  early  day.  By  the  end  of  the  year 
1636,  about  eight  hundred  settlers  had  made  their  way  to  tke  banks 
of  the  Connecticut. 

Not  long  afterwards  (April,  1688)  a  new  colony  of  Puritans  was 
founded  at  New  Haven,  under  the  two  friends,  Theophilua  Eaton, 
and  the  Rev.  John  Davenport,  the  former  of  whom,  until  his  death, 
for  twenty  years  held  by  election  the  office  of  governor.  Villages 
and  plantations,  springing  from  this  source,  spread  rapidly  along  the 
shores  of  Long  Island  Sound.  An  Indian  war,  the  first  in  New 
England,  almost  immediately  after  the  foundation  of  the  settlements 
on  the  Connecticut,  menaced  their  destruction.  To  avenge  certain 
murders  committed,  years  before,  by  the  Pequots,  Massachusetts  had 
dispatched  an  expedition  by  sea,  which  committed  wanton  and  indis- 
criminate reprisals.  Hostilities  thus  precipitated,  a  murderous  war- 
fare ensued.  Cotton  Mather,  indeed,  sees  fit  to  ascribe  the  whole 
matter,  as  usual,  to  the  direct  intervention  of, the  enemy.  "Two 
colonies  of  churches,"  he  says,  "being  thus  brought  forth,  and  a  third 
conceived,  within  the  bounds  of  New  England,  it  was  time  for  tVe 
devil  to  take  the  alarum,  and  make  some  attempt  in  opposition  to 
the  possession  which  the  Lord  Jesus  Christ  was  going  to  have  of  these 
utmost  parts  of  the  earth.  These  ^arte  were  then  covered  with  nations 
of  barbarous  indians  and  infidels,  in  whom  the  ^nnce  of  the  power  of 
the  air  did  work  as  a  spirit;  nor  could  it  be  expected  that  nations  of 
wretches,  whose  whole  religion  was  the  most  explicit  sort  of  devil- 
worship  should  not  be  acted  by  the  devil  to  engage  in  some  early 
and  bloody  actionf  for  the  extinction  of  a  plantation  so  contrary  to 
his  interests,  aa  that  of  New  England  was." 

Whatever  the  cause,  the  whole  weight  of  Indian  hostility  and 
resentment  fell  on  the  feeble  settlements  of  Connecticut    The  Pe- 


ll 


il 


I 


i 


i 


* 


^^ 


lU 


THK  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  UI8T0KY. 


quots  kept  constant  watch  to  surprise  all  stragglers,  and  frequently 
put  their  captives  to  death  with  the  most  cruel  torments.  A  small 
fort  had  been  erected  bj  the  English  at  Say  brook,  near  the  mouth 
of  the  river,  and  the  little  garrison,  under  their  governor,  Gardiner 
held  out  against  the  besieging  savages  with  much  resolution.  Saa- 
sacus,  the  principal  sachem  of  the  hostile  tribe,  now  used  every  ex- 
ertion to  gain  the  aUiance  of  his  old  enemies,  the  Narragansetts, 
sending  ambassadors  to  Oanonicus  and  Miantonimo,  urging  every 
motive  of  policy  and  self-preservation  for  the  relinquishment  of  their 
feud  and  uniting  their  arms  against  the  common  enemy.  This  piece 
of  diplomacy  was  defeated  by  the  agency  of  Boger  Williams,  whose 
influence  with  those  great  sachems  has  been  already  mentioned 
and  who,  at  the  request  of  the  Massachusetts  authorities,  promptly 
set  forth  in  his  canoe,  and  made  his  way,  in  a  dangerous  storm,  to  the 
Narragansett  court  There  he  stayed  for  three  days,  countervailing 
by  his  persuasions  the  arguments  of  the  Pequot  ambassadors,  whose 
hands  were  still  reeking  with  1/he  blood  of  his  countrymen,  and 
"from  whom  he  nightly  looked  for  their  bloody  knives  at  his  throat 
also."  These  persuasions,  combined  with  ancient  enmity,  outweighed 
the  influence  of  the  Pequots,  and  Canonicus  entered  into  league  with 
the  EoglisL 

''"tiXlAx^XJaXi     JLlJt.  '. 

THE  PEQUOT  WAR,  CONTINUED.  —  THE  ATTACI  05  WETHEB8- 
FIELD. — EXPEDITION  UNDER  1IA80N. — SURPRISE  AND  STORM- 
ING   OP    THE    PEQUOT   FORT:    TERRIBLE    SLAUOHTER    AND 
CONFLAGRATION. — FINAL   DEFEAT  AND  DESTRUCTION 

OF  THE   TRIBE. BARBAROUS   EXULTATION   OF  THE 

EARLY  HISTORIANS. — REFLECTIONS. 


In  April,  1637,  the  Pequots  attacked  the  little  town  of  Wethers- 
field,  and  killed  nine  of  the  settlers.  The  English  now  saw  the 
necessity  for  immediate  and  energetic  action.  Ninety  men  were 
speedily  equipped,  and  put  under  the  command  of  Captain  John 
Mason,  an  active  soldier,  and  a  party  of  seventy  Mohegan  Indiana, 
headed  by  the  uotorious  Uncas,  (then  in  revolt  against  his  chief  and 


■^yfwwT 


THE  SETTLEMENT   OF   NEW  EKTOLAITD. 


116 


kinsman,  Sassacus,)  were  persuaded  to  join  the  expedition.  Letters, 
entreating  aid,  were  dispatched  to  Massachusetts.  Early  in  May, 
the  allied  force  proceeded  down  the  river,  ^nd  at  Say  brook,  set  sail 
for  the  country  of  the  Narragansetts,  intending  to  take  the  enemy 
by  surprise.  Though  apprized  that  a  force  from  Massachusetts  was 
on  the  way  to  join  him,  Mason,  fearing  lest  the  Pequots  should  learn 
of  his  design,  resolved  to  strike  a  blow  without  delay.  Strengthened 
by  a  considerable  force  of  native  allies,  he  marched  westward  from 
the  Narragansett  country,  with  great  secrecy,  and  on  the  5th  of 
June,  a  little  before  daylight,  came  to  "Pequot  Hill,"  (in  the  present 
town  of  Groton,)  on  which  the  strongest  fort  of  the  enemy  was 
situated. 

The  barking  of  a  dog  gave  the  first  alarm  to  the  unsuspecting 
garrison,  who,  though  taken  by  surprise,  and  startled  from  profound 
slumber,  hastily  snatched  their  rude  weapons,  and  fought  with  much 
courage.  Mason,  wearied  at  the  length  of  the  contest,  at  last  cried, 
"We  must  burn  them!"  and  snatching  up  a  brand,  set  fire  to  the 
matting  in  one  of  the  wigwams.  The  whole  village  was  composed 
of  the  driest  and  most  combustible  materials,  and  the  flames,  urged 
by  a  strong  wind,  spread  swiftly  through  the  fort.  The  warriors 
continued  to  shoot  until  their  bowstrings  were  snapped  by  the  heat, 
and  then  mostly  perished  in  the  flames,  or  were  shot  down,  in  at- 
tempting to  escape  over  the  palisades.  Women,  children,  and  old 
people  met  the  same  terrible  fate.  It  seems  certain  that  at  least  four 
hundred  perished,  and  possibly  many  more.  "It  was  supposed," 
says  Dr.  Increase  Mather,  "that  no  less  than  500  or  600  Pequot 
souls  were  brought  down  to  hell  that  day."  The  reverend  gentle- 
man, it  would  seem,  took  an  especial  comfort  in  considering  the 
future  torment  of  the  enemy ;  for  elsewhere,  he  tells  of  "  two  and 
twenty  Indian  captains,  slain  all  of  them  and  brought  down  to  hell 
in  one  day,"  and  of  a  certain  chief,  who  sneered  at  the  religion  of 
the  English,  "  and  withal,  added  a  hideous  blasphemy,  immediately 
upon  which  a  bullet  took  him  in  the  head,  and  dashed  out  his  brains, 
sending  his  cursed  soul  in  a  moment  amongst  the  devils  and  blas- 
phemers in  hell  forever." — Prevalency  of  Prayer,  page  7. 

Perhaps  we  cannot  better  arrive  at  a  knowledge  of  the  state  of  pub- 
lic sentiment  in  that  day,  and,  indeed,  for  half  a  century  afterward, 
than  by  perusing  a  few  more  of  these  precious  extracts  from  the  old 
New  England  historians. 

"It  was  a  fearful  sight,"  says  Mr.  Morton,  (New  England's  Memo- 


116 


THE   PEOPLE'S   BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


rial,)  "to  see  them  thus  frying  in  the  fire,  and  the  streams  uf  blood 
quenching  the  same;  and  horrible  was  the  stink  and  scent  thereof- 
but  the  victory  seemed  a  sweet  sacrifice,  and  they  gave  the  praise 
thereof  to  God,  who  had  wrought  so  wonderfully  for  them,  thus  to 
enclose  their  enemies  in  their  hands,"  &c.  The  Pequots  from  other 
villages,  on  hearing  the  disastrous  tidings,  hastened  in  numbers  to  the 
scene,  and  their  very  natural  anguish  is  mocked  by  Cotton  Mather  in  a 
strain  of  satire  as  dull  as  it  is  wicked.  "When  they  came  to  see  the 
ashes  of  theiryriWicfe,"  he  says,  "mingled  with  the  ashes  of  the  fort 
and  the  bodies  of  their  countrymen  so  terribly  barbiketo'd,  where  the 
English  had  been  doing  a  good  morning's  work,  they  howl'd,  they 
roar'd,  they  stamp'd,  they  tore  their  hair;  and  though  they  did  not 
sirear  (for  they  knew  not  how)  yet  they  curs'd,  and  were  the  pictures 
of  so  many  devils  in  desparation."  Is  not  the  feeling  which  prompted 
this  truly  diabolical  sentence  identical  with  that  which  animates  the 
red  warrior  when  beholding  his  foe  consuming  at  the  stake  or  run- 
ning the  gauntlet  through  innumerable  blows? 

Separated  into  small  bodies,  the  Pequots  were  speedily  cut  oflf, 
in  detail,  by  the  victors.  Closely  pursued  by  their  allied  enemies,  a 
portion  retreated  westward,  and  finally,  in  a  swamp  at  Fairfield, 
after  a  brave  defence,  were  completely  routed.  Most  of  the  warriors 
were  slain,  and  the  women  and  children  were  made  slaves,  a  portion 
being  shipped  to  the  West  Indies.  Sassacus,  and  a  small  body  of 
his  warriors,  took  refuge  among  the  Mohawks,  but  were  put  to 
death  by  that  inimical  tribe.  Several  hundred  of  the  broken  nation, 
on  one  occasion,  were  taken  by  the  English  in  the  Narragansett 
country.  "The  men  among  them,"  says  the  Reverend  William 
Holland,  "to  the  number  of  30,  were  turned  presently  into  Charon's 
ferry  boat,  under  the  command  of  Skipper  Gallop,  who  dispatcheU 
them  a  little  without  the  harbour."  "Twas  found,"  says  Reverend 
Cotton  Mather,  "the  quickest  way  to  feed  the  Jishea  with  em."  The 
women  and  children  were  enslaved.  Thus  thinned  by  massacre  and 
transportation,  the  forlorn  relics  of  the  tribe  thereafter  remained  in 
entire  subjection  to  the  victors. 

"In  reading  accounts  like  these,  it  seems  hard  to  determine  which 
is  the  savage  and  which  the  child  of  civilization — and  the  hasty 
conclusion  would  be,  that,  except  in  the  possession  of  fire-artns  to 
defeat  the  Indians,  and  of  letters  to  record  their  destruction,  the 
authors  and  approvers  of  such  deeds  were  but  little  in  advance  of 
tlie  unhappy  race,  whose  extermination  left  room  for  their  own 


TUE   SETTLEMEiNT   OF   NEW   ENGLAND. 


117 


increase  and  prosperity.  But  until  our  own  day  is  free  from  the 
disgrace  of  scenes  parallel  in  cruelty,  enacted  by  those  who  have  had 
the  advantage  of  two  centuries  of  civilization,  it  ill  becomes  us  to 
question  with  too  great  severity  the  deeds  of  men  struggling  for 
existence,  in  the  wilderness,  not  only  with  a  savage  foe,  but  with  all 
those  hardships  and  uncertainties  which  render  the  heart  of  man 
fierce,  callous,  and  unscrupulous  in  the  moans  of  self  preservation. 
The  most  disagreeable  part  of  the  whole  business,  as  we  have  re- 
marked before,  is  the  fiendish  exultation  of  the  learned  historians, 
who,  sitting  in  their  arm-chairs  at  Boston  and  Ipswich,  record  with 
godless  sneers  and  chuckles,  the  defeat  and  sufferings  of  the  savage 
patriots  of  the  soil. 

"These  gentlemen,  pnssessed  with  a  happy  conviction  of  their 
own  righteousness,  appear  to  have  thought  that  the  Lord,  as  a  mat- 
ter of  course,  was  on  their  side,  and  that  only  the  Adversary  or  his 
agents  could  be  arrayed  against  them.  A  long  course  of  ecclesias- 
tical dictation  had  made  them  as  infallible,  in  their  'conceit,'  as  so 
many  popes ;  and  a  constant  handling  of  Jewish  scriptures  had  sup- 
plied them  with  a  vast  number  of  historical  texts,  all  susceptible  of 
excellent  application  in  behalf  of  their  pjsition.  These  were  the 
Avars  of  the  Lord;  the  extirpation  of  the  uncircumcised  occupants  of 
the  Promised  Land;  crusades  against  Edomites,  Philistines,  and  Og, 
king  of  Bashan ;  and  any  severity  toward  the  vanquished,  or  any 
elation  at  their  defeat,  might  find  an  easy  precedent  in  the  extermin- 
ating policy  of  priests  and  prophets,  and  the  pseans  of  victory  chanted 
over  their  fallen  foes."* 

*  Discoverers,  &c.,  of  Americ*. 


THE  SETTLEMENT  OF  MARYLAND. 


rnADTTTC     T     '  ■ 
L/(LiLin.rXiij>u    X* 


,    ■■■,i  .yf^'d    [.■,.f]1l;"l 

'  ' ./  '  '  i'     .-, , "    ■ 

SIR  GEOROS  CALVERT:    HIS    SCHSKES    FOR    SETTLEMENTS   IN 
AMERICA:   HE  OBTAINS  THE  GRANT  OF  MARYLAND:   FOUNDS 
,,A    COLONY    THERE.  —  SETTLEMENT     OF     ST.    MART'S. — 
RELATIONS   WITH   THE    INDIANS. — EXPULSION  OF 
t  ,;  •  CLAIBORNE.  —  DISCONTENT  AND  INSURRECTION. 

,.\  ...         — PROTESTANT  SETTLERS.  —  ACT    FOR  THE 
.      ,.    •■.,    TOLERATION  OF  ALL  CHRISTIAN  SECTS. 


Sir  George  Calvert,  a  secretary  of  state  under  James  I.,  having 
conscientiously  become  a  Catholic,  and  finding,  in  the  adoption  of 
this  proscribed  faith,  an  insuperable  bar  to  political  ambition  at 
home,  had,  from  an  early  day,  directed  his  exertions  to  the  enter- 
prise of  peopling  and  governing  new  regions  in  America.  He  had 
made  strenuous  and  protracted,  but  unavailing  endeavours  to  found  a 
permanent  and  prosperous  settlement  on  the  rugged  shores  of  New- 
foundland ;  and,  finally,  turfted  his  attention  to  the  milder  and  more 
fertile  regions  of  Virginia.  His  desire  to  plant  a  colony  there  being 
thwarted  by  the  prejudice  of  the  authorities  against  his  faith,  he 
returned  to  England,  where  his  court-favour,  despite  this  obstacle, 
being  good,  he  obtained  from  the  crown  the  grant  of  an  extensive 
region  northward  of  the  southern  bank  of  the  Potomac,  and  extend- 
ing to  the  fortieth  degree  of  north  latitude. 

Over  this  wide  tract,  almost  unlimited  personal  jurisdiction  was 
conferred  on  him,  with  some  reservation  in  favour  of  s<ilf-government 
oy  the  settlers;  and  the  title  of  Lord  Baltimore,  which  he  received 
at  the  same  time,  was  an  additional  proof  of  the  royal  favour.  In 
honour  of  the  queen,  Henrietta  Maria,  he  bestowed  on  the  region  of 
his  projected  colony  the  name  of  Maryland.  Before  the  final  ratifi- 
cation of  the  charter,  he  died,  but  his  rights  were  confirmed  to  his 
son  Cecil,  the  second  Lord  Baltimore,  who  devoted  himself  with 


THE  SETTLEMENT  OF  MARYLAND. 


119 


much  energy  to  the  completion  of  his  father's  plan.  In  November, 
1683,  he  dispatched  his  brother,  Leonard  Calvert,  with  a^M  two 
hundred  emigrants,  mostly  Catholics,  in  two  vessels,  the  a  and 
Dove,  to  found  the  projected  settlement.  This  company  first  touched 
at  Point  Comfort,  in  Virginia,  where,  though  with  no  sincere  cor- 
diality, they  were  courteously  received  by  the  authorities;  and  in 
March  of  the  following  year,  proceeded  to  the  Potomac. 

Intercourse,  generally  friendly,  was  established  with  the  natives 
inhabiting  its  shores;  and,  on  the  St  Mary's,  at  an  Indian  town,  called 
Yoacomoco,  (afterwards  St.  Mary's,)  it  was  resolved  to  plant  a  settle- 
ment. The  chief  received  the  emigrants  with  extraordinary  kindness 
and  hospitality,  and  for  hatchets,  hoes,  and  other  European  articles, 
they  obtained  not  only  a  large  tract  of  land,  but  half  of  the  village 
itself,  with  the  corn  growing  adjacent,  and  were  thus  at  once  pro- 
vided with  comfortable  shelter.  This  peaceful  and  friendly  intercourse 
with  the  native  inhabitants  continued  for  nearly  ten  years,  when  it 
was  interrupted  by  hostilities.  These,  after  a  continuance  of  two 
years,  were  ended  by  treaty,  and  a  long  interval  of  peace  succeeded. 

Only  a  few  years  after  the  establishment  of  the  new  colony,  its 
tranquillity  was  disturbed  by  a  species  of  civil  warfare.  Captain 
William  Cluyborne,  who  had  planted  a  trading  establishment  on 
Kent  Island,  opposite  to  the  settlements  of  Lord  Baltimore,  and  who 
had  expended  large  sums  on  the  enterprise,  was  summoned  by  the 
proprietary  to  yield  it  up,  aa  lying  within  the  limits  of  his  patent. 
Despite  forcible  remonstrance,  both  from  Virginia  and  the  English 
government,  Baltimore  resolved  to  enforce  this  obnoxious  claim  by 
an  appeal  to  arms.  After  a  number  of  hostile  encounters,  the  plant- 
ation on  the  isle  of  Kent  was  carried  by  a  night  assault.,  and  its 
tenants  were  made  prisoners  or  put  to  flight.  On  the  complaint  of 
Clay  borne,  the  king  (July,  1688)  strongly  reprehended  these  violent 
proceedings,  but,  on  account  of  the  liberal  political  opinions  of  the 
injured  party,  the  Commissioners  of  Plantations  decided  that,  "con- 
cerning the  violences  and  wrongs  by  the  said  Clayborne  and  the 
rest  complained  of,  they  found  no  cause  at  all  to  relieve  them,"  &c. 

Founded,  as  the  new  colony  was,  by  a  sect  persecuted  in  England, 
it  did  not  imitate  the  example  of  other  settlements  originating  in  a 
similar  cause,  but  allowed  free  liberty  of  conscience  and  of  worship 
to  all,  at  least  of  the  Christian  faith.  The  overbearing  claims  of  the 
proprietor  to  almost  complete  personal  jurisdiction,  however,  occa- 
sioned much  discontent  and  uneasiness,  and,  in  1645,  excited  an 


120 


THE  PXOPLE'B   BOOK  OF  III8T0BY. 


actual  insurrection,  by  which  Calvert,  the  governor,  was  compelled 
to  retreat  into  Virginia.  The  government  of  the  proprietor,  a  year 
or  two  afterwards,  was  reinstated — an  amnesty  being  granted  for  all 
political  offences.  In  1049,  the  year  of  the  king's  execution  the 
people,  taking  advantage  of  the  success  of  the  revolutionary  party  in 
England,  wrung  from  Lord  Baltimore  an  act  by  which  some  portion 
of  legislative  power  was  secured  to  their  deputies. 

To  increa.<«e  the  population  of  his  province,  that  nobleman  now 
began  to  invite  Protestant  settlers,  both  from  New  England  and 
Virginia.  The  former,  strongly  prejudiced,  declined  the  invitation 
but  from  the  latter,  on  account  of  the  arbitrary  spirit  of  the  author- 
ities, great  numbers  migrated  to  Maryland.  In  1649,  the  Catholic 
assembly,  to  their  honour,  passed  &  statute,  explicitly  declaring 
(what  had  always  been  matter  of  custom  in  the  province)  perfect 
freedom  in  matters  of  Christian  faith.  "  Whereas  the  enforcing  of 
the  conscience  in  matters  of  religion,"  proclaims  this  iib^^al  enact- 
ment, "hath  frequently  fallen  out  to  be  of  dangerous  con.^iccuence  in 
those  commonwealths  where  it  ha^  been  practised,  and  ibr  the  more 
quiet  and  peaceable  government  of  this  province,  and  the  better  to 
preserve  mutual  love  and  amity  among  the  inhabitants,  no  person 
within  this  pro .  ince,  professing  to  believe  in  Jesus  Christ,  shall  be 
any  ways  troubled,  molested,  or  discountenanced  for  his  or  her  reli- 
gion, in  the  free  exercise  thereof."  The  obj  jct  sought  in  the  explicit 
(  .actment  of  this  statute  was,  doubtless,  a^  'veil  to  attract  and  con- 
ciliate Protestant  emigration,  as  for  self-protection  in  event  of  the 
Catholics  themselves  falling  into  the  minority. 


THK  BSTTLEMENT  OF   MARYLAND. 


121 


tiixArxiiixi    I  !•  ' 


AUBITRART    8T8TBM    OF   LORD    BALTIMORB. — DI8AYFB0TI0N 
OV  THB  PROTBSTANT  8BTTLBR8. — INTBBFBRBNOB  OF    THB 
yiROINIA  C0MKIB8I0NBRS. — AFFAIR8    IN    BNOLAND. — 
TRIUAPH   of  THB   PROTESTANTS.  —  RBPBAL   OF  TOLERA- 
TION,— CIVIL   WAR.  —  VICTORY   OF   THB   PROTESTANTS. 
— FBNDALL'S   INSURRECTION:  HIS  SUCCESS  AND 
FINAL    RUIN. — TOLERATION  RESTORED. 

The  Virginian  settlers,  imbued  with  a  spirit  of  political  liberty, 
were  surprised  and  grieved,  ere  long,  at  being  required  to  take  an 
oath  of  allegiance  to  Lord  Baltimore,  couched  in  terms  of  such  arro- 
gance, as  appeared  to  them  "far  too  high  for  him,  and  strangely 
unsuitable  to  the  present  liberty  which  God  hath  given  to  English 
subjects."  The  proprietor  sternly  rejected  any  modification  of  the 
obnoxious  form,  and  ordered  Stone,  his  governor,  to  enforce  forfeit- 
ure and  banishment  against  all  who  should  fail  within  three  months 
to  comply  with  his  requisition.  But  that  functionary  thought  it 
imprudent  to  carry  out  such  an  arbitrary  ordinance,  and,  accord- 
ingly, deferred  its  execution. 

A  commission  h?'d  been  appointed  to  reduce  Virginia  under  the 
parliamentary  rule,  and  it  so  happened  that  Bennet  and  Clayborne, 
both  at  enmity  with  the  proprietary,  had  the  principal  control  of  its 
transactions.  The  former  being  made  governor,  and  the  latter  sec- 
retary of  Virginia,  they  speedily  found  occasion  to  interfere  in  the 
affairs  of  Maryland.  After  considerable  debate  with  Stone,  they  so 
far  modified  their  demands  as  only  to  claim  the  nomination  of  most 
of  the  colonial  officers.  Baltimore,  exceedingly  indignant,  sought 
redress  from  the  revolutionary  party,  which  he  had  endeavoured  by 
all  means  to  conciliate;  and  it  is  supposed  that  he  obtained  some 
secret  promise  of  countenance  from  the  Protector;  for,  in  1654,  he 
sent  word  to  his  governor  to  resist  the  proceedings  of  the  commid- 
sion  at  all  hazards,  to  displace  their  officers,  and  to  expel  from  the 
province  all  who  would  not  take  the  disputed  oath  of  allegiance. 
Stone,  accordingly,  feeling  confident,  it  would  seem,  in  the  support 
of  some  high  authority,  proceeded,  with  much  impetuosity,  to  put 
these  obnoxious  instructions  into  force. 


122 


THK  PBOPLK*B  BOOK  oy  HISTOKT. 


Three  montha  of  negotiation  ensued,  when  the  commiaBion,  re- 
solving to  carry  mattera  with  a  high  hand,  set  forth  for  Maryland, 
and  issued  a  proclamation  deposing  him,  and  declaring  Cromwell  thu 
head  of  the  government.  With  a  strong  force  of  Frotestanta,  they 
advanced  against  the  governor,  who,  on  his  part,  could  guthur  but  n 
comparatively  small  ond  timid  levy  of  the  opposite  sect  and  foction. 
In  despair  of  succeaa,  he  resigned  his  authority  into  the  hands  of  the 
two  commissioners,  who,  thereupon,  appointed  ten  others,  to  adniinin- 
tcr  affairs  in  the  several  departments.  By  an  edict,  the  some  sum- 
mer, they  deprived  the  Catholics  of  their  elective  frnnchise;  and  the 
next  assembly,  strongly  Protestant,  repealed  the  act  for  univeraol 
toleration,  so  far  as  the  obnoxious  religion  was  concerned. 
(  Though  this  bigoted  act  was  not  carried  to  the  extreme  of  actual 
persecution,  it  naturally  produced  great  resentment  in  the  minds  of 
the  aggrieved  sect  To  be  thus  excluded,  at  least  by  the  law,  from 
the  province  they  had  founded,  and  to  see  their  religion,  a  refuge  for 
which  had  induced  them  to  undertake  their  exile,  proscribed  by 
aliens,  was  more  than  human  patience  could  endure.  The  Catholics 
and  others  attached  to  the  house  of  Baltimore,  rallied  around  tho 
governor,  and  soon  presented  a  formidable  attitude.  They  seized 
on  the  public  records  at  Patuxent,  reduced  a  considerable  tract  of 
country  to  submission,  and  advanced  upon  the  chief  station  of  the 
Protestant  party,  at  Providence,  in  Anne  Arundel.  Overawed  at 
these  formidable  demonstrations,  the  latter  made  overtures  of  peace, 
and  even  of  submission,  but  receiving  no  answer,  resolved  to  fight 
the  quarrel  out  In  March,  1656,  the  Catholic  force,  two  hundred 
and  fifty  strong,  sailed  up  the  Severn  and  disembarked.  Their  ene- 
mies, less  than  half  that  number,  made  a  desperate  stand  against 
them,  and  battle  was  joined  with  cries  of  "  Hey  for  St  Mary  I"  and 
"God  is  our  strength!"  Afler  a  sharp  but  brief  contest,  victory  fell 
to  the  weaker  but  more  valiant  party  of  Puritans;  Stone,  with  his 
chief  officers,  being  made  captive,  and  all  the  rest  of  his  force  except 
five  being  killed  or  made  prisoners.  Baggage,  ortillery,  and  a  store  ot 
beadfi  and  relics,  and  similar  "trash  wherein  they  trusted," also  fell  into 
the  hands  of  the  victors.  The  life  of  the  defeated  leader  was  hardly 
saved  from  the  vengeance  of  his  enemies,  and  four  of  the  chief  per- 
sons of  his  party  were  tried  by  a  council  of  war,  and  were  executed. 

Not  long  afler  these  events,  Josias  Fendall,  an  active  partisan  of 
the  Baltimore  faction,  rallying  the  Catholics,  raised  a  counterinsur- 
rtv'tion,  which  wad  supprc^wed,  not  without  difficulty.     The  propric- 


TDB  8ITTLKUENT  OF  MAHYLAND. 


123 


tary,  pleoftod  with  bis  exortions,  now  appointed  him  governor,  and 
ho  gained  pus.iOMion  of  the  distriot  of  St  Mary's.  By  March,  1668, 
by  his  policy  and  address,  he  contrived  to  have  the  authority  of 
Baltimore  and  of  himself  acknowledged  throughout  the  province. 
Koligioiis  freedom,  and  the  relinquishment  of  the  obnoxiuua  claims 
uf  the  proprietary,  were  among  the  conditions  on  which  this  agree- 
ment wa.M   ounded. 

When,  in  March,  1660,  tidings  of  the  Restoration  of  Charles  II., 
camo  to  Maryland,  the  assembly,  supposing  that  Baltimore,  on  ac- 
count of  his  intrigues  with  the  revolutionary  party,  would  be  a 
mark  for  the  royal  displeasure,  hastily  and  prematurely  disowned 
his  .authority,  substituting  their  own,  in  the  king's  name.  But  the 
proprietor,  easily  making  his  peace  at  court,  was  fully  reinstated  in 
his  privileges,  and  speedily  sent  out  his  brother,  Philip  Calvert,  as 
governor.  Fendull,  who  had  been  implicated  in  the  proceedings  of 
the  assembly,  was  tried  and  convicted  of  high  treason,  but  waj  suf- 
fered to  escape  with  comparatively  slight  punishment.  For  a  sub- 
sequent insurrectionary  movement,  he  was  fined,  imprisoned,  and 
banished  from  the  colony. 

The  population  of  the  province,  at  this  time,  (1660,)  has  been 
variously  estimated  at  from  eight  to  twelve  thousand.  The  Quakers, 
who  hud  experienced  such  persecution  in  other  colonies  (see  New 
England,  tec.)  resorted  there  in  considerable  numbers,  and  were 
tolerated  in  the  exercise  of  their  worship. 


■    I      ••      ■      .'.7 


•.11,'. /ti'    ',..'    ii"'-'' 


{  -   •   V  ! 


M- '  ;•)■ 


'     1 


,  •■    |l    "  ':     ■  ' 
.      •    ,  s  ...  •     -;.l     ,-t  '■    ■       I'' 

,  I  > .  .        .   .       '   • '       1    ■  •    ' 


!  ;i 


v~. 


■  I 


'•  i.'s;-. 


VIEGIIIA, 

CONTINUED. 


1    /■ 


CTJ   A  D  T  P  P      T 


RBrON  OP  CHARLES  I.:   HIS  YIBWS  OP  TIROINIA. TBARDLET, 

GOVERNOR:   WEST:   HARVRT:  HIS   DEPOSITION   BY   THB  PEOPLE: 
HE   IS  SUPPORTED   BY   THE  CROWN. — WTATT. SIR  WIL- 
LIAM  BERKELEY,   OOYEhNOR.  —  LOYALTY  OP   THE  COL- 
ONY.—  PERSECUTION  OF  DISSENTERS. — SECOND  INDIAN 
CONSPIRACY  AND   MASSACRE. — OPECHANCANOUOH 
A    PRISONER:    HIS  SPEECH:     MURDERED    BY    A  ^_ 

SOLDIER.  —  REDUCTION    OF    THE    INDIANS. — 
TRIUMPH  OF   THE  PURITANS   IN   ENGLAND. 
—  ROYALIST   EMIGRATION  TO  TIROINIA. 
—  LOYALTY    OF    THE    PROYINCB. 


The  main  object  of  Charles  I.,  from  the  time  of  his  accession  to 
the  throne,  in  governing  Virginia,  seems  to  have  been  to  derive  as 
great  a  pecuniary  profit  from  it  as  possible.  Sufficiently  arbitrary 
in  his  domestic  policy,  he  probably  regarded  any  republican  spirit 
in  this  weak  and  distant  colony  as  too  inconsiderable  to  deserve  his 
attention;  while,  continually  seeking  the  means  of  supporting  a 
government  without  the  necessity  of  resorting  to  parliament  for 
supplies,  his  only  anxiety  was  to  derive  as  large  a  revenue  as  pos- 
sible from  the  importation  of  tobacco.  When  Wyatt,  in  1626, 
returned  to  England,  Sir  George  Yeardley,  the  author,  as  it  were, 
of  Virginia's  political  freedom,  was  appointed  governor.  Under  his 
ju!?t  and  equal  administration,  the  province  prospered  and  increased 
greatly  in  numbers;  as  many  as  a  thousand  emigrants  arriving  in  a 
single  year.  lie  died  in  1627,  leaving  a  high  character,  and  a 
memory  revered  by  the  people.  Francis  West  was  elected  his 
successor,  as  governor,  by  the  council,  which,  in  such  case,  was 
iiuthorized  to  fill  the  vacancy.    John  Harvey,  who,  soon  pAer,  was 


VIRGINIA. 


125 


appointed  by  the  king  to  that  office,  and  who  arrived  in  Virginia  in 
1629,  appears,  by  his  system  of  favouritism,  to  have  excited  much 
discontent  in  the  province,  which,  nevertheless,  by  its  popular  form 
of  government,  enjoyed  a  good  share  of  prosperity  and  freedom.  A 
remarkable  order  and  steadiness  seems  to  have  characterized  its 
early  legislation. 

The  cession  to  Lord  Baltimore  of  a  large  tract,  which  the  Virgin- 
ians had  always  been  accustomed  to  consider  as  lying  within  their 
own  jurisdiction,  created  no  little  alarm  and  uneasiness.  Harvey, 
however,  who  was  a  strong  partisan  of  the  crown,  when  Clay  borne, 
defeated  and  outlawed  in  Maryland,  took  refupe  in  Virginia,  so  far 
from  taking  advantage  of  the  opportunity  to  exert  an  influence  over 
the  sister  province,  sent  the  fugitive  a  prisoner  to  England.  The 
people,  and  the  majority  of  the  council,  indignant  at  this  act,  sum- 
marily deposed  the  governor,  appointing  Captain  John  West  in  his 
place,  till  the  king's  pleasure  could  be  known.  Supported  by  the 
royal  favour,  however,  he  rcassumed  his  office,  which  he  continued 
to  hold  until  1639,  when  he  was  rSplaced  by  Sir  Francis  Wyatt. 
Two  years  afterwards,  (February,  1642,)  Sir  William  Berkeley,  in 
turn  appointed  to  that  office,  arrived  in  Virginia,  where,  by  his  cor- 
dial agreement  with  the  legislature,  many  improvements  were  made 
in  the  civil  code,  and  important  acts  were  passed  for  the  benefit  of 
the  colony. 

To  a  province  like  Virginia,  alike  prosperous  and  loyal,  the 
triumph  of  the  popular  and  Puritan  party  in  England  brought  no 
satisfaction.  On  the  contrary,  to  mark  its  attachment  to  the  estab- 
lished church,  the  colonial  government  even  went  to  the  length  of 
instituting  a  religious  persecution  (the  first  in  Virginia)  in  its  behalf 
— an  especial  order  being  issued  in  1648,  by  the  council,  for  the 
banishment  of  non-conformists,  and  the  silencing  of  all  except  Epis- 
copal preaching. 

Hostility  with  the  Indians,  long  confined  to  sudden  forays  and 
petty  skirmishes,  in  the  next  year  ripened  to  a  general  war.  Re- 
membering the  sanguinary  success  of  their  former  attempt,  the 
stivnges,  with  profound  secrecy,  again  concerted  a  simultaneous 
attack  on  the  intruders.  On  the  18th  of  April,  1644,  the  frontier 
settlements  were  assaulted,  and  some  three  hundred  of  the  colonists 
fell  victims;  but  the  assailants,  losing  heart,  their  design  only  com- 
menced, returned  to  the  forests,  where  their  enemies  were  not  long 
in  pursuing  tliem.     In  this  war,  Opechancanough,  so  long  the  terror 


12G 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


of  the  whites,  was  made  prisoner.  He  was  now  in  extreme  old  age 
being  unable  to  raise  his  eyelids,  which,  when  he  desired  to  see 
were  opened  by  his  attendants.  Being  brought  before  the  governor 
a  spectacle  for  the  eager  curiosity  of  the  crowd,  he  said,  haughtily, 
"Had  Sir  William  Berkeley  fallen  into  my  hands,  I  would  not  have 
exposed  him  thus  to  the  gaze  of  my  people."  A  ruffianly  soldier 
to  avenge,  it  is  said,  some  former  grievance,  extinguished,  by  a  cow- 
ardly murder,  the  feeble  spark  of  life  yet  lingering  in  his  frame. 
These  successes  were  followed  up  with  much  vigour,  repeated  incur- 
sions being  made  against  the  Indians;  and,  in  1646,  peace  was 
concluded  with  Necotowanee,  their  chief,  (the  successor  of  Opechan- 
canough,)  on  terms  of  submission  and  cession  of  territory. 

This  difficulty,  (the  last  with  the  natives  in  their  immediate  vicin- 
ity,) thus  overcome,  the  Virginian  settlements  continued  to  increase 
and  prosper.  In  the  winter  of  1648,  more  than  thirty  vessels,  at 
one  time,  were  trading  in  their  ports.  The  number  of  colonists  had 
risen  to  twenty  thousand;  and  the  triumph  of  the  Puritans  in 
England,  compelling  the  opposite  party  to  exile,  brought  about  an 
emigration  of  numerous  loyalists  and  cavaliers,  some  of  them  men 
of  distinction.  The  loyalty  of  the  province,  confirmed  by  this  means 
Htood  firm  for  the  House  of  Stuart  Immediately  after  the  execu- 
tion of  Charles,  the  government  of  Virginia  had  recognized  his  son 
and  the  latter,  from  his  retreat  in  Berda,  had  sent  to  Berkeley  a  new 
commission ;  and  diat  officer,  in  1651,  wrote  to  the  king,  with  ardent 
expressions  of  attachment  and  fidelity,  and  even  hinting  the  advisa- 
bility of  his  taking  refuge  in  his  American  colonies.  It  was  deemed 
possible,  by  the  over-sanguine  cavaliers,  that  this  little  province, 
the  last  to  submit  to  the  commonwealth,  might  make  a  successful 
stand  for  royalty  against  the  entire  power  of  England. 


VIBQINIA. 


12T 


LJuti/iJtJtiu^    jtx. 


ACT  FOR  THE    RBDUCTION    OP  7IK0INIA. — THE    NAViaATIOH 

ACT.  —  MODERATION   OP  THE   PARLIAMENT. SDBMI88I0N  OF 

THE  PROVINCE.  —  BENNETT,   GOVERNOR:    DI008:    MATHEWS. 
—  JEALOUSY  OF  THE  ASSEMBLY   AGAINST   FOREIGN  IN- 
TERFERENCE.—  FREEDOM  AND   PROSPERITY  OF  VIR- 
GINIA  UNDER  THE  COMMONWEALTH. DEATH  OF 

CROMWELL.  —  BERKELEY,      GOVERNOR  — RE- 
STORATION    OF     CHARLES    II.  —  ITS    ILL 
EFFECT    ON     THE    PROVINCE. 


The  Parliament,  triumphant  over  its  enemies  at  home,  at  last  turned 
its  attention  to  the  refractory  province  of  Virginia.  The  council  of 
state  was  empowered  to  reduce  it  to  obedience ;  and  the  "Navigation 
Act,"  passed  in  1651,  deprived  it,  nominally,  at  least,  in  common 
with  the  other  English  colonies,  of  foreign  trade,  except  that  carried 
on  by  English  vessels.  Considering  the  bold  front  of  opposition 
which  Virginia  had  exhibited  to  the  popular  government  of  England, 
the  measures  adopted  were  characterized  by  singular  moderation 
and  leniency.  Two  of  the  three  commissioners,  appointed  for  the 
reduction  of  the  province,  were  Virginians;  and  they  had  charge  to 
use  all  mild  and  persuasive  means  before  resorting  to  force.  The 
liberties  of  the  colony  were  amply  secured,  in  case  of  peace,  and  the 
Virginians,  not  feeling  called  on  to  contend  for  the  claims  of  a 
dethroned  monarch  to  the  extreme  of  actual  resistance,  on  learning 
the  moderate  nature  of  the  parliamentary  commission,  laid  aside  all 
thought  of  resistance.  Full  power  of  self  government,  and  equal 
privileges  with  Engli.shmcn  at  home,  were  provided  for  the  colony; 
but  the  influence  of  the  dominant  party,  and  the  submission  or 
assent  of  the  colonists,  were  sufficiently  evinced  in  the  election  of 
Richard  Bennett,  a  strong  revolutionist,  by  the  burgesses,  to  the 
office  of  governor.  On  his  retirement,  in  1655.  Edward  Digga 
received  the  same  office  at  the  hands  of  the  assembly — Cromwell, 
during  his  tenure  of  power,  never  interfering  with  the  right  exer- 
cised by  the  Virginians  of  choosing  their  own  officers. 

In  1658,  an  old  planter,  named  Samuel  Mathews,  described  as  one 
who  "kept  a  good  house,  lived  bravely,  and  was  a  true  lover  of 
Vol,.  IV.— 37 


128 


THE  PEOPLE'S   BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


Virginia,"  was  chosen  to  the  same  post.  Becoming,  ere  long,  in- 
volved in  a  dispute  with  the  assembly,  he  announced  his  intention 
of  referring  the  matters  in  issue  to  the  decision  of  the  Protector. 
Alarmed  at  the  prospect  of  dependence  on  a  foreign  authority,  that 
body  proceeded  to  make  a  bold  and  startling  declaration  of  the  pop- 
ular  sovereignty,  and  actually  deposed  Mathews,  whom  they  had 
lately  elected.  Having  thus  vindicated  their  dignity,  they  forthwith 
rein.stated  him  in  office,  while  he  submitted  to  their  requirements 
with  a  readiness  which  sufficiently  shows  that,  whatever  the  tem- 
porary disagreement,  no  serious  ill-feeling  had  existed  between 
the  executive  and  legislative  powers.  The  spirit  of  public  liberty 
by  this  bold  demonstration,  gained  a  great  accession  of  strength 
and  firmnef^s. 

On  the  death  of  the  Protector,  the  assembly  of  burgesses,  after 
private  deliberation,  resolved  to  acknowledge  his  son,  Richard 
Cromwell,  as  the  head  of  the  English  government;  and  when,  by 
his  resignation  and  the  death  of  their  governor,  (1660,)  the  destinies 
of  Virginia  seemed  fallen  entirely  in  their  hands,  they  resolved  tha.. 
the  supreme  power  should  be  lodged  in  their  own  body,  and  that 
all  writs  should  issue  in  its  name,  "until  there  shall  arrive  from 
England  a  commission,  which  the  assembly  itself  shall  judge  to  be 
lawful."  The  prospect  of  the  Restoration  was  hailed  with  joy  by 
Virginia,  and  the  election  of  Sir  William  Berkeley  to  the  office  of 
governor,  was  an  earnest  of  its  repewed  loyalty.  That  faithful 
adherent  to  the  House  of  Stuart,  in  accepting  the  office,  however 
expressly  acknowledged  the  authority  of  the  as.sembly,  of  which,  he 
said,  he  was  but  a  servant,  and  waited  eagerly  for  news  of  the 
recrection  of  the  monarchy. 

During  the  civil  wars,  the  parliamentary  government,  and  the 
Protectorate,  Virginia  had  been  steadily  gaining,  by  precedent,  for- 
tifications to  her  system  of  self-government.  Commerce  was  free 
(for  the  Navigation  Act  soon  became  a  dead  letter,)  and  religious 
toleration  (except  to  the  Quakers,  a  sect  at  that  time  almost  iiniver- 
sally  proscribed)  was  fully  established.  Universal  suffrage  of  free- 
men prevailed,  and  in  consequence  of  the  fertility  of  the  soil,  and 
the  high  price  commanded  by  the  staple  production,  tobacco,  re- 
markable prosperity  prevailetl.  These  advantages,  unalloyed  l)v 
any  act  of  oppression  by  the  home  government,  had  rendered  the 
province  one  of  the  most  di'sirablo  places  of  residence  in  Aincricn. 

The  elevation  of  Charles  II.  to  the  throne  of  bis  fathers,  marked  l)v 


VIBQINIA. 


129 


the  northern  colonies  .with  such  gloomy  forebodings,  was  received 
with  exultation  by  Virginia.  Berkeley  at  once  rgassumed  his  official 
functions,  under  the  royal  authority,  and,  in  the  king's  name,  sum- 
moned an  assembly,  which,  from  its  loyalist  composition,  clearly 
indicated  the  prevalent  sympathy  of  the  colony.  With  strange 
indifference  to  the  blessings  the  country  had  enjoyed  under  self- 
government,  the  dominant  party  at  once  proceeded  to  pass  acts  of 
an  arbitrary  and  intolerant  nature.  Suffrage  was  restricted  to  free- 
holders and  householders,  the  English  Church  was  exclusively  rees- 
tablished, and  the  persecution  of  dissenters,  which  had  before 
compelled  them  to  seek  refuge  in  other  colonies,  was  renewed.  The 
assembly,  like  the  Long  Parliament,  made  its  sitting,  in  a  manner, 
perpetual,  the  members  retaining  their  seats  for  more  than  ten  years, 
and,  finally,  dissolving  only  when  compelled  by  necessity  The 
restoration  of  arbitrary  power  was  systematically  pursued. 

The  rgerection  of  the  monarchy,  to  which  Virginia  had  looked 
with  such  sanguine  hope,  was  presently  the  means  of  inflicting  great 
evil  on  the  colony.  The  provisions  of  the  Navigation  Act,  restrict- 
ing all  commerce  to  the  parent-country,  had  been  evaded  or  disre- 
garded at  an  early  day  by  the  American  provinces,  and  had  latterly 
fallen  into  complete  disuse.  This  obnoxious  statute  was  now  reen- 
acted  with  increased  strictness,  and  enforced  with  practical  rigour — 
the  influence  of  the  London  merchants,  who  derived  great  profits 
from  the  monopoly,  proving  sufficient  to  outweigh  all  the  complaints 
and  remonstrances  of  the  colonists.  In  vain  did  Berkeley,  deputed 
by  the  Virginians,  repair  to  court,  and  urge  on  the  ear  of  the  king, 
with  all  the  influence  which  his  ancient  loyalty  could  command,  the 
disastrous  eiTects  produced  on  the  province  by  this  arbitrary  restriction 
of  its  growing  intercourse  with  European  nations,  and  complain  that 
the  disloyal  colonies  of  New  England  were  suffered  to  set  the  act  in 
question  at  nought,  while  the  faithful  province  of  Virginia  was 
forced  to  a  strict  compliance.  His  remonstrances  availed  nothing, 
and  thus  the  first  fruit  which  Virginia  reaped  from  the  Restoration, 
long  cherished  with  such  ardent  expectation,  was  the  infliction  of  a 
monopoly  calculated  greatly  to  retard  her  progress  and  impair  her 
prosperity. 


NEW  ENGLAND, 

CONTINUED. 


CxIAPTEH    I. 


miMICAL    MBA8URE8    ADOPTED    IN    ENGLAND. — SPIRIT   OF 

MASSACHUSETTS:    THREAT    OF    REVOLT. — THE    ENGLISH 

RETOLDTION. — INDUSTRY  AND   PROSPERITY   OF   NEW 

ENGLAND:    ITS    INDEPENDENCE.  —  NEW   HAMPSHIRE 

ANNEXED  TO    MASSACHUSETTS.  —  FORMATION 

OF    THK    NEW    ENGLAND    CONFEDERACY. 


The  first  blow  aimed  by  the  English  crown  at  the  growing  spirit 
of  mingled  freedom  and  intolerance  in  New  England,  was  the 
appointment  of  a  commission,  consisting  of  the  Aschbishop  of  Can- 
terbury And  others,  with  full  power  to  establish  a  government  there 
both  ecclesiastical  and  civil,  and  to  revoke  any  charter,  the  provisions 
of  which  might  secra  to  infringe  on  the  royal  prerogative.  (April 
1634.)  The  news  of  this  invidious  ordinance  awakened  universal 
alarm  and  indignation.  A  general  spirit  of  resistance  was  evinced 
and  hasty  provision  was  made  for  the  fortification  and  defence  of 
Massachusetts.  All  the  clergy  of  the  pro/ince,  assembled  at  Boston 
unanimously  agreed  to  resist  the  imposition  of  a  foreign  governor. 
"  We  ought,"  they  declared,  "to  defend  our  lawful  posscKsions,  if  we 
are  able;  if  not,  to  avoid  and  protract"  A  fresh  intrigue,  directed 
against  the  peace  of  the  new  commonwealth,  was  that  of  the  Ply- 
mouth Company,  which  surrendered  its  charter  into  the  king's 
hands,  its  members  hoping  to  obtain  extensive  private  grants,  and 
using  all  their  influence  to  get  that  of  the  Massachus'^tts  Cotiipaiiy 
revoked.  Legal  proceedings  were  commenced  against  the  latter, 
but  the  death  of  Mason,  the  patentee  of  New  Ilanipshire,  and  the 
prime  mover  of  these  inimical  proceedings,  prevented  tlicni  from 
being  carried  to  the  extreme. 


KEW  ENGLAND. 


181 


Tho  council,  in  1688  demanded  of  Winthrop,  that  the  patent 
should  be  given  up;  but  the  authorities,  in  reply,  urged  strong 
detnonstrances  against  the  projected  arbitrary  enforcement.  It  was 
backed,  indeed,  by  a  judgment  from  the  Court  of  King's  Bench,  but 
such  judgment  had  been  obtained  by  the  intrigues  of  their  enemies, 
and  doubtless  owed  its  origin  to  royal  dictation  or  influence.  They 
concluded  their  reply  with  an  implied  threat  of  independence  in 
case  matters  were  forced  to  an  extremity.  "If  the  patent  be  taken 
from  us,"  they  declare,  "</je  common  people  will  conceive  that  his 
majesty  hath  cast  them  off,  and  that  hereby  they  are  freed  from  their 
subjection  and  allegiance,  and  therefore  will  be  ready  to  confederate 
themiielves  under  a  new  government,  for  their  necessary  safety  and. 
subsistence,  wh'.'i  will  be  of  dangerous  example  unto  other  planta- 
tions, and  perilous  to  ourselves,  of  incurring  his  majesty's  dis- 
pleasure." This  covert  menace  of  revolution,  it  may  be  imagined, 
was  encouraged  by  the  growing  power  and  influence  of  the  Puritan 
party  in  England,  where,, indeed,  the  authority  of  the  sovereign  was 
already  beginning  to  find  sufficient  employment  in  suppressing  the 
popular  movement,  without  crossing  the  ocean  to  seek  a  sparsely- 
peopled  wilderness.  In  fact,  numbers,  who,  in  the  day  of  persecu- 
tion, had  sought  refuge  in  America,  now  hastened  back  to  England  to 
take  their  share  in  the  extraordinary  events  which  were  there  begin- 
ning to  transpire.  "  By  the  year  1640,  the  tide  of  emigration,  which, 
for  many  years,  had  flowed  steadily  to  New  England,  gradually  ceased. 
The  ascendency  of  the  Puritan  party  in  England  soon  removed  the 
grievous  wrongs  and  disabilities  under  which  that  numerous  body 
had  once  laboured,  and  the  temptation  to  share  the  success  of  the 
triumphant  faction  at  home  was  greater  than  that  to  retreat  into  the 
wilderness  which  had  been  its  refuge  when  weak  and  persecuted  by 
its  destined  victims." 

More  than  twenty  thousand  emigrants,  however,  before  the  year 
1640,  had  arrived  in  New  England,  and  by  their  extraordinary 
industry  and  enterprise,  prosperity  and  comfort  had  been  developed 
to  a  degree  which,  considering  the  asperity  of  the  climate  and 
country,  seemed  hardly  possible.  Little  more  than  ten  years  had 
elapsed  since  the  foundation  of  the  Massachusetts  colony,  yet  in 
that  interval,  says  Mr.  Bancroft,  fifty  towns  and  villages  had  been 
planted,  and  nearly  as  many  churches  had  been  built;  and  for- 
eign commerce,  in  furs,  timber,  grain,  and  fish,  had  already  been 
established  on  a  permanent  base.    Nay,  the  manufacture  of  cotton 


132 


THE  PEOPLK'S  BOOK  OF  I1I8T0KY. 


(the  staple  being  supplied  from  Baibadoes)  had  already  made  u 
commencement 

As  a  mutter  of  course,  the  Long  Parliament,  the  Puritan  and 
revolutionary  element  of  which  was  so  greatly  in  the  ascendant 
looked  with  warm  sympathy  to  the  New  England  colonists;  but  the 
latter  seem  to  have  avoided,  at  first,  any  decided  commitment  of 
themselves  either  to  the  political  or  ecclesiastical  strife  which  at  this 
time  raged  in  England.  From  this  distracted  condition  of  the 
mother-country,  and  the  favour  of  the  dominant  party,  they  came  to 
possess,  what  they  enjoyed  for  nearly  twenty  years,  the  blessings  of 
actual  independence  and  self-government.  This,  however,  must  be 
understood  in  the  restricted  sense  of  partial  suffrage,  and  of  the 
entirely  preponderate  influence  of  "the  church"  over  that  of  "the 
people."  The  most  important  political  event  of  1642,  was  the  an- 
nexation to  the  jurisdiction  of  Massachusetts  of  the  neighbouring 
settlements  of  New  Hampshire,  which,  it  was  claimed,  fell  within 
the  patent  of  the  former,  and  the  inhabitants  of  which,  by  their  own 
action,  confirmed  the  claim,  and  were  admitted,  on  equal  terms  with 
the  Massachusetts  people,  as  an  integral  portion  of  that  province. 

As  early  as  1637,  immediately  after  the  dangers  of  the  Pequot 
war  had  shown  the  necessity  of  union,  a  confederacy  of  the  New 
England  colonies  had  been  proposed,  and  in  the  following  year  had 
again  been  discussed,  but  on  account  of  the  jealousy  of  Connecticut, 
bad  been  deferred.  The  latter  province,  however,  wishing  assist- 
ance against  the  encroachments  of  the  Dutch,  at  length  renewed  the 
negotiation;  and  in  1643,  the  states  of  Massachusetts,  Plymouth, 
Connecticut  and  New  Ilaven,  formed  a  union  for  mutual  aid  and 
protection — "the  first  germ  of  that  mighty  confederacy  which  now 
nunbers.more  millions  than  its  original  did  thousands,  and  which 
from  a  bleak  corner  of  New  England,  has  extended,  for  twenty 
degrees  of  latitude,  over  the  thousand  leagues  of  mountain,  forest, 
and  prarie,  that  divide  the  two  oceans." 

The  chief  objects  of  this  alliance  were  protection  against  hostile 
savages,  resistance  to  Dutch  and  French  encroachment,  and  the 
fortification  of  the  degree  of  civil  and  religious  liberty  which  the 
several  colonies  liad  obtained  or  permitted.  Two  '^omnii.ssionurs 
from  each  colony  (none  but  church  members  being  eligible  to  the 
oOice)  were  to  manage  the  affairs  of  the  federal  government,  .and  to 
have  the  control  of  peace  and  war,  of  mriking  public  improvements, 
and,  generally,  of  any  matters  which  might  properly  pertain  to  tho 


NEW    ENGLAND. 


133 


government  of  a  confederation.  These  powers,  apparently  bo  exten- 
sive, were  held  in  check  by  the  dependence  of  this  central  authority 
on  the  separate  states  for  the  means  of  carrying  its  enactments  into 
effect.  Neither  the  peopV  of  New  Hampshire,  nor  those  of  Rhode 
Lslnml  or  of  Providencv  j.  iuntations,  although  they  desired  it,  were 
admitted  to  this  league,  which,  indeed,  was  doubtless  more  harmo- 
nious than  it  could  have  been,  had  opinions  more  liberal  in  politics, 
or  more  tolerant  in  religion,  been  permitted  to  mingle  in  ita  councils. 


•  \j     XlL     ittOtf     X        Ji       Jul     Jib  Ju      X  •  I     ■ 

■  .1'  I        '•  ll   1 1 '     '   '      '  •  I     .' 

UNCA8  AND  MIANTONIMO.  —  DEFEAT  AND  DEATH  OP  THE  LATTER 
—  DISCREDIT  TO  THE   ENGLISH.  —  RHODE  ISLAND:   ITS  LIBER- 
TIES GUARANTEED   BY  THE  PARLIAMENT.  —  LETTER  TO  SIR 

HENRY  VANE. REMARKABLE  FREEDOM  ENJOYED  THERE. 

—  MAINE    ANNEXED    BY    MASSACHUSETTS.    . 


A  TRAGEDY,  purely  native  in  its  origin  and  execution,  but  in 
which  the  English  authorities  contrived  to  play  a  very  discreditable 
part,  was  enacted  in  1643.  Miantonimo,  the  Narragansett  sachem, 
accused  by  Uncas,  the  Mohegan,  of  hostility  to  the  colonies,  had 
been  compelled  to  appear  in  an  ignominious  manner  at  Boston,  and 
had  met  with  much  humiliation  at  the  hands  of  the  English.  To 
revenge  himself  on  his  acciiser,  despite  a  peace,  guarantied  by  the 
latter,  with  a  thousand  warriors  he  attacked  the  hostile  tribe.  De- 
feated by  the  superior  strategy  of  his  rival,  and  taken  prisoner,  he 
was  conducted  to  Hartford,  where  Uncas,  with  a  moderation  which 
might  seem  surpri.iin":,  but  for  the  result  which  he  probably  consid- 
ered as  certain,  referred  the  destiny  of  his  captive  to  the  Commis- 
sioners of  the  Confederacy.  These,  acting  under  advice  and  counsel 
of  tlie  clergy,  so  fur  from  interposing  in  behalf  of  mercy,  and  actu- 
ated, doubtless,  by  jealousy  of  the  tribe  of  the^efeated  chief,  decided 
tiiut  he  might  lawfully  be  put  to  death,  and  delivered  him  into  the 
hands  of  the  victor.  The  latter,  with  his  brother,  Wawequa,  and 
other  Indians,  and  accompanied  by  two  white  men,  led  his  prisoner 
iilong  a  solitary  pathv/ay,  in  which,  at  a  silent  signal  from  Uncas, 
Wawequa,  stepping  up  behind,  sunk  his  tomahawk  in  the  brain  of 


134 


THE   PEOPLE'S   BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


the  victim.  The  revengeful  chief,  it  is  said,  cut  a  morsel  of  flesh 
from  the  shoulder  of  his  enemy,  and  ate  it,  saying  that  it  was  "the 
sweetest  meat  ho  ever  eat;  it  made  his  heart  strong."  The  tribe  of 
the  fallen  chief,  who  were  warmly  attached  to  him,  lamented  deoply 
over  his  unhappy  fate,  and  complained  with  bitterness  that  large 
quantities  of  wampum,  which  they  had  sent  to  the  Mohegans  as  a 
ransom  for  his  life,  had  been  retained,  while  the  life  of  their  leader, 
which  it  should  have  purchased,  was  treacherously  taken.  His 
brother,  Pessacus,  who  succeeded  to  the  command,  took  signal 
revenge  on  the  enemy,  and,  but  for  the  interposition  of  the  English, 
would  doubtless  have  inflicted  on  Uncas  the  same  fate  as  that  which 
the  latter  had  wreaked  on  the  chiv^of  the  Narragansetts. 

While  the  other  New  England  provinces,  secure  in  union,  and 
holding  their  political  existence  and  possession  of  their  territories 
either  by  royal  charter,  or  purchase  from  the  original  grantees,  pre- 
sented an  almost  unassailable  front  to  foreign  interference,  Rhode 
Island,  whose  only  tenure  of  possession  was  that  derived  from  the 
native  chieftains,  had  cause  alike  to  dread  the  ambition  and  en- 
croachment of  her  powerful  neighbours,  and  acts  of  usurpation  on 
the  part  of  the  government  at  home.  To  place  on  a  more  secure 
basis  the  state  he  had  founded,  Williams,  in  164S,  sailed  for  Eng- 
land, and  pleaded  the  cause  of  freedom  before  the  parliamentary 
authorities.  By  the  influence  of  Sir  Henry  Vane,  who  was  now  a 
member  of  the  council  for  the  government  of  America,  and  by  the 
reputation  which  his  own  ejcertions  had  already  acquired  for  him,  a 
charter,  insuring  extraordinary  freedom  of  civil  government,  was 
granted  to  Rhode  Island  by  the  parliament.  On  his  return,  he  was 
welcomed  with  enthusiastic  gratitude  by  the  citizens,  and  the  people 
of  Providence,  in  an  eloquent  letter  of  thanks  to  Sir  Henry  Vane 
expressed  iheir  acknowledgment  of  his  continual  kindness  and  pro- 
tection. "From  the  first  beginnir^^'," declares  this  admirably-written 
document,  "you  have  been  a  noble  and  true  friend  to  an  outcast 
and  despised  people;  we  have  ever  reaped  the  bweot  fruits  of  your 
constant  loving  kindness  and  favor.  We  have  long  been  free  from 
the  iron  yoke  of  woli'ish  bishops;  we  have  sitten  dry  from  the 
streams  of  blood,  spilt  by  the  wars  in  our  native  country.  We  have 
not  felt  the  new  chains  of  the  prcsbyterian  tyrants,  nor  in  this  colony 
have  we  been  consumed  by  the  over-zealous  fire  of  the  (so  called) 
godly  Christian  magistrates.  We  have  not  known  what  an  excise 
means;  we  have  almost  forgotten  what  tithes  are.     We  have  long 


MEW    EMOLAND. 


186 


drank  of  the  cup  of  aa  great  liberties  aa  any  people  that  we  can 
hear  of,  under  the  whole  heaven.  When  we  are  gone,  our  posterity 
and  children  after  us  shall  read  in  our  town  records  your  loving 
kindness  to  us,  and  our  real  endeavor  after  peace  and  righteousness." 
A  more  honourable  testimonial,  or  one  more  gratifying  to  a  pure  and 
benevolent  mind,  has  seldom  been  offered  by  a  state  to  its  benefactor. 

The  good  people  of  Rhode  Island,  in  possession  of  their  coveted 
privileges,  did  not  abuse  them.  Our  liberty,  they  had  boasted,  shall 
not  degenerate  into  an  anarchy.  Nor  was  this  an  idle  vaunt.  Al- 
though a  very  great  diversity  of  creeds,  some  wild  and  fanatical 
enough,  it  is  said,  had  taken  refuge  in  the  asylum  from  American 
persecution,  and,  though  perfect  freedom  of  debate  prevailed,  and 
was  sometimes  exercised  stormily  enough,  the  legislation  of  the  little 
state  was  characterized  by  singular  good  sense  and  impartiality. 
Williams,  who  made  another  voyage  to  England  to  repel  a  menaced 
assault  on  its  franchises,  ever  fostered  the  popular  spirit,  and  despite 
the  earnest  wishes  of  the  assembly,  refused  to  obtain  or  accept  from 
the  English  authorities  the  appointment  of  himself  as  governor — his 
wise  prescience  dreading  any  unnecessary  commitment  of  the  affairs 
of  the  state  to  a  foreign,  even  though  a  friendly  power. 

In  Maine,  disputes  arising  between  the  agents  of  rival  patentees, 
ai  d  no  settlement  of  the  question  being  issued  from  England,  the 
inhabitants  of  several  towns,  by  their  own  action,  erected  an  inde- 
pendent government,  and  Massachusetts,  ever  willing  to  extend  its 
influence,  whether  by  force  or  invitation,  over  its  neighbours, 
decided  that  the  territory  in  question  came  within  her  own  jurisdic- 
tion. Commissioners  were  dispatched  there,  and  the  whole  country 
was  speedily,  with  the  consent  of  its  inhabitants,  brought  under  the 
government  of  the  more  powerful  province.  This  summary  change, 
however,  appears  to  have  been  generally  satisfactory  to  the  residents. 


136  "^"K  PEOl'LE'B  HOOK  OF  IIISTOKY. 


CHADTrP     TTT 

OPPOSITION   TO  THE  MASSACHUSETTS   ADTHORITIBS—   PARMA 

MBNTART   ENCROACHMRNT   RRniSTBD   AND   RELINQUISHED  — 

NEW    ENGLAND   FAVOURED   RY   CROMWELL.  —  BIGOTED   AND 

INTOLERANT  LAWS  OF  MAS?  ACMUHETTS.  —  PERSECUTION  OP 

BAPTISTS.  —  THE  QUAKERS    PERSECUTION  OF  THEM:  FOUR 

/        EXECUTED:    THEIR  COUKAOE   AND   FORTITUDE. — 

APOLOGISTS  FOR  THE  HANGINGS.  —  RBFLBCTI0N8. 

The  authorities  of  Mnasachusetts,  in  close  league  with  the  clergy, 
♦he  elders,  and  the  more  intolerant  church  party,  were  not  long  in 
awaking  a  spirit  of  opposition  among  the  partisans  of  a  more  liberal 
and  tolerant  policy.  At  an  early  day,  indeed,  that  party  had  shown 
much  jealousy  of  any  thing  like  a  prescriptive  government  or  dicta 
tion  in  elections,  and  when  it  had  been  proposed  that  the  office  of 
governor  should  be  held  for  life,  it  was  forthwith  resolved  by  the 
deputies,  that  no  magisterial  office  should  be  held  for  more  than  a 
year.  A  direct  collision  between  the  two  parties  had  occurred  in 
1645,  on  a  question  of  small  moment  in  itself,  but  involving  the 
legal  extent  of  the  authority  of  the  magistrates.  A  small  majority 
of  the  deputies  to  the  general  court  held  that,  from  the  assumption 
of  power  by  these  authorities,  the  liberty  of  the  people  was  in  dan- 
ger; the  rest,  and,  of  course,  nearly  all  the  magistrates  themselves, 
resolved  that  "authority  was  overmuch  slighted,"  and  that  there 
was  danger  of  "a  mere  democracy."  The  popular  party,  by  the 
enactment  of  a  law  on  th*^  point  in  question,  obtained  a  nominal 
triumph,  but  the  magistrates,  the  governor  (Winthrop)  and  the 
clergy  retained  their  ascendency  in  the  government,  and  circum- 
stances favourintr  their  purpose,  were  *^ven  enabled  to  extend  tlieir 
actual  power. 

In  November,  164fl,  at  an  assembly  of  the  general  court  of  Mn.s- 
sachusetts,  a  firm  stand  was  made  by  the  government  of  that  colony 
against  threatened  encroachments  by  the  parliament  on  its  inde- 
pendence. A  vehement  aii'l  eloquent  remonstrance  was  forwarded 
to  Knglaful,  where  Winslow,  their  agent,  and  Sir  Henry  Vane,  who, 
despite  some  unkind  usajre,  was  still  a  fa.st  friend  of  tlic  liberty  of 
the  coloiiies,  exerted  all  their  influence  against  the  anticipated  dan- 


NKW    ENGLAND. 


187 


gor.  Tho  parliament,  j>oH8eH8cd  of  the  true  circumstancefl,  confirmed 
tlieir  liberties  and  refuBed  to  listen  to  appeals  from  their  justice. 
Wlien,  a  few  years  afterwards,  the  supreme  power  became  vested  in 
Cromwell,  a«  Protector,  that  great  man,  with  a  natural  sympathy 
both  for  their  virtues  and  their  errors,  looked  with  uncommon 
favour  on  the  rugged  colonists  of  New  England.  lie  favoured  their 
commerce,  allowed  them  full  independence  of  self-government,  and 
was  even  willing  to  extend  their  political  power  by  a  gift  of  the 
rich  island  of  Jamaica,  which  had  been  wrested  by  him  from  the 
Spaniards.  The  Protectorate,  without  doubt,  was  the  golden  age  of 
New  J]ngland  liberty.  '         ^ 

The  Massachusetts  authorities,  hardened  by  their  triumph  over 
the  popular  party,  and  provoked  by  opposition,  ere  long,  by  their 
sanguinary  persecutions,  inflicted  on  New  England  the  darkest  stain 
which  her  character  had  ever  sustained.  Sharp  laws  against  both 
infidelity  and  heresy  were  enacted — the  penalty  of  death  being 
denounced  against  such  as  should  deny  the  infallability  of  any  part 
of  the  Bible — anabaptism  being  made  a  penal  ofifence — and  absence 
from  meeting  being  punishable  by  fine. 

Had  the  whole  community  been  entirely  united  in  opinion,  these 
bigoted  laws  might  have  remained  simply  an  expression  of  the 
intolerance  of  those  who  contrived  them.  But  a  strong  party  in 
favour  of  full  liberty  of  conscience  already  existed  in  New  England, 
and  in  Plymouth,  the  proposition  was  even  made  for  toleration  to 
all,  "without  exception  against  Turk,  Jew,  Papist,  Arian,,"  Ac,  &c. 
The  opponents  of  this  j>lan  contrived,  by  protracting,  tt.  defeat  it; 
but  it  was  ov'  iitly  popular  with  the  citizens,  for,  writes  Winslow 
to  Winthn/i  '  You  would  have  admired  to  see  how  sweet  this  car- 
rion rclislud  u    the  palate  of  most  of  them." — (Bancroft.) 

The  r  iv'nates,  the  elders,  the  clergy,  and  the  church  generally,  it 
would  stvin,  were  of  opinion,  that  the  sharp  arm  of  th»law  should 
be  usod  to  restrain  all  diasent  from  their  own  views.  Clarke,  of 
Rh(Kle  Island,  a  Baptist,  having  attempttnl  to  preach  at  Lynn,  was 
s<ized  and  compelled  to  attend  the  Congregational  meeting,  where, 
savs  Mr.  Bancroft,  "he  expres-sed  his  aver.non  by  a  harmless  inde- 
corum, which  yet  would  have  been  without  excuse,  had  his  presence 
been  voluntary."  Heavy  fines  and  severe  whippings  were  used  to 
repress  the  spread  of  the  dreaded  heresy.     (1651.) 

An  obstacle  to  conformity  far  more  formidable,  and  one  irrepressi- 
ble by  persecution,  was  goon  found  in  the  fanatical  courage  of  tho 


u 

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iiiiii 

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mi 

188 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


then  rapidly  increasing  sect  of  Quakers — a  sect,  in  eriernal  demean- 
our and  popular  consideration,  almost  the  reverse  of  that  which 
bears  the  title  in  our  own  day.  An  enthusiastic  and  purely  i»elf- 
abnegating  zeal  for  their  faith,  caused  them  voluntarily  and  gratui- 
tously to  expose  themselves  to  the  extremest  dangers  of  persecution  • 
and  at  the  time  we  write  of,  they  were  pretty  generally  proscribed 
throughout  the  Christian  world.  Two  women  of  this  persuasion 
arriving  rt  Boston  .in  1656,  were  seized  at  once,  kept  in  close  con- 
finement for  five  weeks,  and  then,  their  books  having  been  burnsd 
by  the  hangman,  were  expelled  from  the  province.  One  of  them 
Mary  Fisher,  soon  after,  set  forth  alone  to  deliver  a  message  to  the 
Great  Turk,  an  errand  which  she  actually  performed  at  Adrianople 
•^the  sanctity  attached  to  her  supposed  insanity,  protecting  her  from 
any  wrong  or  insult.  Many  others  of  the  obnoxious  sect  were  sent 
back  to  England,  or  otherwise  banished;  and  when,  the  next  year, 
some  of  them  returned,  imprisonment  and  whipping  were  freely 
resorted  to.  Fines  were  imposed  upon  any  who  should  attend  the 
Quaker  meetings  or  entertain  any  of  the  Quakers;  and  loss  of  ears  and 
boring  the  tongue  with  a  hot  iron  were  provided  for  the  obstinate. 

As  a  natural  consequence,  a  people  so  fearless,  and  even  so  enam- 
oured, as  it  were,  of  persecution,  soon  flocked  in  numbers  to  Massa- 
chusetts; and  the  general  court  of  that  province,  with  a  rash  and 
cruel  persistance  in  their  policy  of  exclusion,  enacted  that  death 
should  be  the  penalty  of  returning  from  banishment.  This  san- 
guinary decree,  precipitated  by  the  turbulent  and  eccentric  demean- 
our of  some  of  the  proscribed  zealots,  was,  in  1659,  carried  into 
execution  on  the  persons  of  Mary  Dyer,  who  had  returned,  and  of 
Stephenson  and  Robinson,  who  had  come,  as  voluntary  martyrs,  to 
shame,  with  their  blood,  the  cruelty  of  the  authorities.  At  the  place 
of  execution  the  woman  was  reprieved,  but  answered  with  spirit, 
"  Jict  me  parish  witn  my  brethren,  unless  you  will  annul  your  wicked 
law."  She  was  sent  out  of  the  colony,  but,  returning,  also  perished 
by  the  hands  of  the  hangman.  William  Leddra,  who  was  offered 
his  life,  on  condition  of  promising  to  keep  away,  refused  the  proffer, 
and  was  also  hanged.  At  the  very  time  of  his  trial,  Christison,  also 
banished  on  pain  of  death,  boldly  returned,  and  entered  the  court; 
he  was  adjudged  to  die,  but  told  his  persecutors,  truly  enough,  that 
for  every  one  they  hanged,  five  more  would  come  to  glut  them  with 
bloodshed. 

Awed,  it  would  seem,  by  the  determination  of  the  sufferers,  and 


NEW  ENGLAND. 


189 


yielding  to  popular  opinion,  which  was  shocked  at  these  cruelties, 
the  magistrates  finally  paused  in  their  sanguinary  career.  The  life 
of  Christison  was  spared,  and  he,  with  many  others,  was  released 
from  prison.  A  royal  order,  not  long  after,  prohibited  the  repetition 
of  these  extreme  atrocities,  though  the  minor  devices  of  persecution 
were  still  freely  resorted  to. 

It  is  extraordinary  what  pains  have  been  taken  by  many  of  our 
writers  to  clear  the  skirts  of  their  ancestors  of  the  stain  attaching  to 
the  most  undeniable  persecution  on  record.  "It  was  in  self-de- 
fence," thus  the  ablest  and  most  accurate  of  American  historians 
commences  an  elaborate  apology  for  these  transactions,  "that  Puri- 
tanism in  America  began  those  transient  persecutions  of  which  the 
excesses  shall  find  in  me  no  apologist."  Not  to  dwell  on  the  several 
inconsistencies,  and  even  the  contradictions  in  terms  involved  in' 
this  affirmation,  it  may  be  said  confidently,  that  such  a  plea  could  be 
admissible,  even  on  the  odious  ground  of  necessity,  only  where  some 
natural  right  of  the  oppressors  was  in  danger  of  infringement. 
Though  the  Quakers,  or  some  of  them,  indeed  railed  at  the  worship 
of  the  Puritans,  and  even  denied  their  right  to  self-government, 
surely  it  cannot  be  pretended  that  the  principle  of  freedom  was  in 
any  way  endangered  by  the  mere  denunciation  of  a  feeble  few, 
then  almost  universally  proscribed,  and  utterly  destitute  of  political 
influence.  But  the  argument  evidently  is,  that,  bj  retiring  from 
the  rest  of  the  civilized  world,  and  erecting  a  commonwealth  by 
themselves,  the  Puritans  had  acquired  a  species  of  claim,  if  opposed, 
to  infringe  the  natural  right  of  others;  that,  having  established  a 
certain  order  of  things,  they  were  entitled  to  use,  or,  at  least,  were 
excusable  in  using,  for  its  maintainance,  means  at  which  the  natural 
sense  of  right  in  man  revolts. 

It  lias  been  as  seduously  attempted  to  shift  the  blame  from  the 
shoulders  of  the  persecutors  to  those  of  their  victims.  "But  for 
them,"  (the  Quakers,)  says  ihe  same  authority,  "the  country  had 
been  guiltless  of  blood!"  The  same  may  be  said  of  the  sufferers 
under  any  martyrdom,  nay,  under  any  crime  or  oppression.  But 
for  Prynne  and  his  fellows,  the  mutilators  of  Charles  would  have 
had  a  sinecure;  bu*  for  Servetus,  the  black  cloak  of  Geneva  might 
have  remained  uncrimsoned  with  the  smoking  blood  of  vivo-crema- 
tion;  but  for  Joan  Boucher,  the  memory  of  Cranmer  had  descended 
to  us  that  of  a  martyr  only,  and  not  a  relentless  woman-burner; 
but  for  Cranmer  himself,  Rome  had  been  spared  her  archest  deed  of 


140 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


combined  treachery  and  cruelty.  No  persecution,  of  course,  can 
exist  without  its  legitimate  prey.  That  prey  is,  almost  invariably, 
a  small,  but  brave  and  stubborn  nimority,  which,  by  its  unbending 
opposition,  inflames  to  madness  the  pride,  the  self-will,  the  passion 
of  long-accustomed  power.  But  methinks  it  rather  hard  that  those 
who  bravely  surrendered  their  lives,  in  defiance  of  a  wicked  law 
should  have  the  dishonour  of  the  transaction  laid  at  their  door,  and 
be  accused,  at  this  day,  of  shaming  with  their  blood  the  posterity 
of  their  murderers. 

Nor  is  it  fair  to  assume  that  the  Quakers  used  any  greater  measure 
of  provocation  to  their  oppressors  than  has  often  been  customary 
even  with  the  most  undeniable  martyrs.  The  spirit  of  man,  when 
pou^^ht  to  be  crushed  by  superior  physical  power,  will  at  least  assert 
itself  in  bold  and  defiant  words;  and  whatever  the  extravagances 
committed  by  some  wrong-headed  zealots  among  them,  the  demean 
our  of  the  victims,  at  least  on  their  trial,  seems  to  have  been  charac- 
terized l)y  remarkable  dignity  and  oecency.  The  plain  fact — so 
]>Iain  thiit  its  aasertion  is  almost  supe  'fluous — seems  to  be,  that  the 
early  rulers  of  Massachusetts  were  men  of  extraordinary  force  of 
character,  bigoted,  self-willed,  and  unusually  disposed  to  tyrannize. 
They  had  resolved  to  have  their  oum  way,  at  whatever  cost,  even 
to  the  shedding  of  blood.  The  people  against  whom  their  cruel 
and  tyrannical  laws  were  directed,  were  few  in  number,  but  pos- 
sessed by  a  spirit  of  daring,  enthusiasm,  and  stubbornness,  such  as 
the  world  has  seldom  witnessed.  They  resolved  that  these  sanguin- 
ary statutes,  whose  existence  proclaimed  them  felons,  by  the  very 
shame  and  horror  of  their  execution  should  be  annulled;  and  in 
laying  down  their  lives  in  accomplishment  of  this  purpose,  they 
certainly  earned  as  fairly  the  crown  of  martyrdom  as  any  of  the 
multitudes  who,  for  conscience,  for  independence,  for  fame,  or  for  sal- 
vation, had  trodden  the  same  thorny  path  before  them. 


NEW   ENGLAND. 


141 


•  .,.,.',      .♦    ir' 


••;-',r  'J.*'^ 


CnADTPO     TIT 


EDUCATION  IN  MASSACHUSETTS. — HARVARD  COLLEGE. —  RE- 
STORATION OP  CHARLES  II. — OPPRESSIVE  ENACTMENTS  CON- 
CERNING COMMERCE.  —  ATTITUDE    OP    THE  COLONIES. — 
WINTHROP,    THE    YOUNGER. — CONNECTICUT    OBTAINS 
A    CHARTER:     HER    PREEDOM    AND    PROSPERITY. 


With  our  forefathers,  in  nearly  all  the  New  England  states,  edu- 
cation, from  the  first,  was  a  subject  of  solicitous  care.  Provision 
was  made  that  all  children  in  Massachusetts  should  at  least  learn  to 
read  and  write,  and  schools  of  a  higher  character  were  not  long  in 
succeeding.  Only  a  few  years  after  the  arrival  of  the  Puritans  in 
Massachusetts,  John  Harvard,  dying  there,  by  the  bequest  of  his 
library  and  of  half  his  estate,  founded  that  admirable  university 
which  still  commemorates  his  name,  and  which  has  exercised  such 
extraordinary  influence,  from  the  first,  in  promoting  the  intelligence 

.  I  refining  the  manners  of  New  England.    Fostered  by  the  dare 
1  the  state,  and  at  times  assisted  by  the  neighbouring  provinces,  it 
enjoyed  a  continually  increasing  prosperity  and  usefulness. 

The  restoration  of  Charles  II.  to  the  throne  of  England  was  the 
signal  for  a  renewal  of  those  more  obnoxious  claims  of  sovereignty 
over  the  American  colonies,  which  had  either  been  relinquished  or 
suffered  to  fall  into  disuse  by  the  government  of  the  commonwealth. 
The  Navigation  Act  (the  child  of  that  government  indeed,  but,  in 
its  original,  not  designed  rigidly  to  fetter  their  commerce)  was  rften- 
acted,  with  new  and  oppressive  provisions;  a  monopoly  being 
secured  to  English  merchants,  English  ships,  and  English  navigators, 
in  the  entire  foreign  intercourse  of  those  provinces.  The  exporta- 
tion of  a  long  list  of  articles,  including  tobacco,  sugar,  cotton,  and 
other  produce,  was  prohibited  excepting  to  England ;  and  ere  long 
the  importation  of  any  European  goods,  except  those  supplied  by 
English  merchants,  was  in  like  manner  made  illegal.  Commercial 
intercourse  between  the  northern  and  southern  colonies  was  bur- 
dened with  oppressive  duties;  and,  by  degrees,  the  very  manufacture 
of  articles  which  might  compete  with  that  of  the  home  country  in 
foreign  trade,  or  even  in  furnishing  their  oWn  supplies,  was  also  for- 
bidden.    Such-  was  the  oppressive  system,  the  commencement  of 


U2 


THE  PKOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


which  signalized  to  the  colonists  the  restoration  of  English  mon- 
archy, and  which,  finally  pursued  to  an  extreme  incompatible  with 
their  growing  strength  and  spirit  of  independence,  resulted  in  the 
loss  to  England  of  the  most  splendid  provinces  ever  founded  by  the 
enterprise  of  her  sons,  or  reared  into  greatness  by  their  genius  and 
industry. 

'hile  MassachusetJ,  both  its  political  and  moral  prepossessions 
shocked  by  the  prospect  of  the  elevation  of  a  character  like  that  of 
the  new  king  to  the  sovereignty  of  England,  waited,  with  a  species 
of  sullen  expectancy,  the  event  of  the  change,  and  even  meditated 
opposition,  in  case  a  royal  governor  should  be  sent  to  rule  over  it- 
the  other  New  England  colonies,  weaker  in  numbers,  and  less  deter- 
mined in  spirit,  proclaimed  the  new  sovereign  with  alacrity,  and 
hastened  to  conciliate  uis  favour.  Winthrop  the  younger,  a  man 
of  high  character,  and  of  most  engaging  address,  was  dispatched  to 
London  on  the  part  of  Connecticut,  to  obtain  from  the  king  a  patent 
of  that  province  for  the  hardy  adventurers  who,  as  yet,  held  it  only 
by  native  conquest  and  purchase,  and  by  the  assignment  of  the 
representatives  of  the  Earl  of  Warwick.  Aided  by  some  court 
influence,  this  emissary  obtained  an  audience  with  Charles,  who  was 
so  agreeably  impressed  with  his  character  and  demeanour,  that  lie 
granted  an  ample  charter  to  the  petitioners.  Hartford  and  New 
Ilaven  were  connected  in  one  colony,  and  this  vast  patent  extended 
westward  across  the  entire  continent,  including  in  its  limits  the 
already  numerous  and  prosperous  settlements  of  the  Dutch  on  the 
banks  of  the  Hudson.  By  the  same  liberal  instrument,  complete 
independence,  excepting  the  reservation  of  allegiance  to  the  crown 
was  .secured  to  the  colonists.  All  power,  botli  civil  and  criminal, 
judicial  and  executive,  elective  and  legislative,  was  lodged  in  their 
own  hands— a  constitution  more  completely  independent  in  effect 
could  hardly  have  been  framed  by  the  most  ardent  lover  of  liberty. 
Winthrop,  aflt^r  this  successful  result  of  his  mission,  returned  to  tlie 
province,  where,  in  gratitude  for  his  services?,  the  office  of  cliief 
maf.'istrate,  for  fourteen  years,  by  annual  election,  was  conferred  on 
him.  Under  these  favourable  auspices,  the  colony  of  Connecticut 
commenced  a  career  of  continual  increase,  of  rational  prosperity,  and 
of  tranquil  happiness.  The  care  for  popular  education,  which  has 
always  ciiarsicterizt'd  her  logislation,  was  manifested  at  an  early  day. 
Common  schools  always  existed,  and  the  higher  wants  of  the  intel- 
lect, by  the  lieginuing  of  the  next  century,  were  provided  lor  in  tlie 


NEW   ENGT.AND. 


143 


foundation  of  an  institution,  the  modesty  and  humbkiiess  of  whoso 
onc;in  contrast  strongly  with  ihe  strength  and  prosperity  of  its 
gubseqaent  career — the  college  of  Yale.. 

New  England,  said  Mr.  Webster,  contained  in  its  system  threo 
institutions  which  alone  would  have  sufficed  to  make  it  free — the 
Town  Meeting,  the  Congregational  Church,  and  the  Common  School 
— institutions  which  still  flourish  in  a  nearer  approach  to  perfection, 
the  independent  form  of  church  government  being  confined  to  no 
shade  of  belief,  in  its  privileges  or  its  support.  The  peace  and  pros- 
perity of  Connecticut,  founded  on  domestic  harmony  and  freedom 
from  foreign  interference,  remained  for  a  century,  uninterrupted  bj 
any  serious  disturbance. 


THE  CHARTER  OP  RHODE  ISLAND. — CIVII  AND  RELIGIOUS  LIB- 
ERTY.— CARELESS  AND  EXTENSIVE   GRANTS  OF  CHARLES 
II. — THE   ATTITUDE  OP   MASSACHUSETTS:   DISTRUST 
OP     THE     RESTORATION.— REQUISITIONS     OP 
CHARLES  II. — APPOINTMENT    OP    A    COM- 
MISSION.—  ALARM   OP   THE  COLONY. 


RoGEK  Williams,  having  vkited  England,  and  obtained  tbe 
sanction  of  parliament  to  the  existence  of  the  infant  state  he  had 
founded,  in  1652  returned  to  New  England,  leaving,  as  bis  agent, 
John  Clarke,  a  man  of  greai,  worth  ancTindefatigable  patience.  This 
efficient  emissary  obtained  from  the  crown,  on  the  Kestoration,  the 
permi.'sion,  earnestly  besought  by  the  colonists  of  Rhode  Island,  "to 
hold  forth  a  lively  experiment,  that  a  most  flonrif hing  civil  state 
may  stand,  and  best  be  maintained  with  a  full  liberty  of  religious 
concernments."  Powers  of  self-government,  as  ample  as  those 
granted  to  Connecticut,  were  secured  to  the  little  province,  and,  to 
gratify  the  benevolent  request  of  the  petitioners,  it  was  expressly 
provided,  that  "no  person  within  the  said  colony,  at  any  time  here- 
tjfler^  shall  be  any  wise  molested,  punished,  disquieted,  or  called  in 
question,  for  any  difference  of  opinion  in  matters  of  religion ;  every 
person  may  at  all  times  freely  and  fully  enjoy  his  own  judgment  and 
Vol.  IV.— 38 


•  4i    ' 


144 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


conscience  in  matters  of  religious  concernment."  Under  this  ancient 
charter,  which  has  been  in  e\  ence  to  our  own  day,  Rhode  Island 
enjoyed  unoommon  political  blessings,  both  civil  and  religious.  Its 
first  benefit  was  the  protection  of  that  feeble  colony  against  the  am- 
bitious encroachments  of  Massrchusetts,  which  was  desirous  of 
extending  its  jurisdiction  over  its  weaker  neighbours,  and  which 
was  effectually  checked  by  this  direct  action  of  the  crown.  Rhode 
Island,  at  the  time  of  this  foundation  of  her  political  existence,  num 
bered  only  between  two  and  three  thousand  souls. 

An  extraordinary  mixture  of  liberality  ana  carelessness  charac- 
terized the  king's  Wjhole  management  of  his  North  American  prov- 
inces. To  his  brother  James,  and  to  several  favourites  and  courtiers 
he  guve  immense  grants  of  territory,  comprising  nearly  all  the  best 
pirt  of  the  North  American  continent — that  to  William  Penn,  laying 
the  foundation  of  a  commonwealth  of  peace,  being  almost  the  only 
one  whose  origin  was  of  a  purer  nature  than  mere  personal  rapacity 
or  ambition. 

«  Until  it  waa  absolutely  certain  that  the  commonwealth  was  at  an 
end,  and  that  the  House  of  Stuart  was  reinstated  on  the  throne, 
Arassachu.setts  hesitated  to  commit  itself  to  any  decided  recognition 
of  sovereignty.  But  when,  in  the  fall  of  1661,  the  news  of  that 
event  arrived,  the  general  court,  knowing  that  the  province  would 
be  readily  exposed  to  odium  with  the  new  government,  hastened  to 
prepare  addresses  to  the  crown  and  parliament.  They  stated  plainly 
the  religious  scruples  which  had  induced  the  Puritans  to  quit  their 
country,  averring  that  they  were  "true  men,  fearing  God  and  the 
King,"  and  praying  that  Charles,  himself  so  lately  in  exile,  would 
feel  u  sympathy  for  men  suffering  the  same  misfortune.  The  agent 
of  i\w  province  was  instructed  to  make  what  interest  he  could  with 
the  court  and  parliament,  and,  especially,  to  resist  the  allowance  of 
appeals  from  the  colonial  government  to  that  of  England. 

Upon  this  point,  however,  the  new  government  seemed  resolved 
to  insist;  and  the  general  court,  in  view  of  a  probable  collision,  with 
much  boldness,  published  ",  declanition  of  rights,  claiming  for  the 
province  the  entire  power  of  appointing  all  its  officers,  of  exercising 
all  powers  of  government,  legislative,  executive,  and  judicial,  and  the 
right  of  resisting  any  infringement  of  its  liberties,  as  theretofore 
enjoyed.  Little  more  than  a  nominal  allegiance  to  the  crown  was 
acknowledged;  and  when,  in  1661,  the  Restoration  wjus  publicly 
]>r(K;luimed,  it  was  done  with  much  coldness  and  apathy. 


^ 


NEW  ENGLAND. 


145 


Messengers  were  dispatched  to  England  to  sustain  the  interests 
of  the  province,  with  instructions  to  persuade  the  king  of  its  loyalty, 
and  to  parry,  if  possible,  any  attempt  upon  its  liberties.  They  vere 
only  in  a  measure  successful.  The  charter  was  confirmed,  but  the 
king  demanded,  with  some  reason,  that  the  laws  should  be  adminis- 
tered in  his  name,  that  the  oath  of  allegiance  should  be  taken,  that 
the  Church  of  England  should  be  tolerated;  and  that  none,  except 
a  property  restrictioii,  .should  be  continued  on  the  elective  franchise. 
The  latter  of  these  demands,  striking  more  closely  than  any  other 
at  the  religions  government  and  the  prejudices  of  the  colonists,  ex- 
cited the  greatest  discontent;  and  a  E/iricter  censdiTship  was  held  over 
all  except  the  established  religion. 

Stimulated  by  rumours,  partly  true  and  partly  false,  of  the  dis- 
loyal spirit  of  the  province,  (it  was  even  rumoured  that  Goffe  and 
Whalley,  who  had  lately  come  over,  and  were  in  hiding,  had  raised 
an  army  against  the  crown,)  the  English  sovereign  proceeded  to 
appoint  a  commission  of  four  persons  to  investigate  matters  in  New 
England,  and  to  use  a  very  discretionary  authority  in  settling  its 
affairs.  On  the  news  of  this  obnoxious  measure  reaching  Boston, 
hasty  measures  were  adopted  for  precaution  and  defence.  The 
safety  of  th»charter,  and  restraint  upon  the  landing  of  soldiers,  were 
especially  provided  for;  and  in  view  of  the  impending  trials  of  the 
Commonwealth,  a  day  of  solemn  prayer  and  fasting  was  appointed. 


CHAPTER  ?I. 


REMONSTRANCE  OF  MASSACHUSETTS  — DOINGS  OP  THE  COMMIS- 
SIONERS:  THEIR  DISPUTES   WITH   THE   AUTHORITIES:   THEIR 
DISCOMFITURE  AND   RETURN   TO   ENGLAND. — SUCCESSFUL 
RESISTANCE  OF   MASSACHUSETTS.  —  INERTNESS  OF   THE 
OROWN.  —  PROSPERITY    AND  TRADE   OF   THE   PROVINCE. 

The  fleet,  dispatched  from  England  for  the  reduction  of  Man- 
hattan and  other  Dutch  settlements  (see  "New  Netherlands")  in 
July,  1664,  arrived  at  Boston,  bearing  the  commissioners.  The 
general  court,  promptly  assembled,  in  token  of  their  loyalty,  agreed 


146 


TIIK  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


4:'  ■ 


to  levy  a  force  in  assistaDce  of  the  expedition ;  and,  while  the  fleet 
was  busied  r.t  Manhattan,  prepared  a  forcible  and  eloquent  remon> 
Btrance,  addressed  to  the  king.  Reciting  the  privileges  of  their 
charter,  the  sacrifices  they  had  made  to  obtain  it,  and  tlie  liberties 
they  had  enjoyed  under  it;  they  foretold  the  trouble  and  ruin  which 
any  persistance  in  controlling  the  affairs  of  the  colony  would  occa- 
sion. "God  knows,"  they  say,  "our  greatest  ambition  is  to  live  a 
quiet  life,  in  a  corner  of  the  world."  Any  thing  but  their  liberties, 
they  declared,  they  were  willing  to  offer  in  testimony  of  their  loyalty. 

Meanwhile,  the  commissioners,  not  caring  to  make  themselves  unne- 
cessarily odious,  had>bu»  ied  themselves,  in  rmony  with  the  colonists, 
in  settling  certain  matters  in  Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island — the  "du- 
tifulness  and  obedience"  of  which  former,  they  averred,  was  "set  off 
with  the  more  lustre  by  the  C(  itrary  deportment  of  Massacliusetts." 
Plymouth,  which  was  promised  a  separate  charter,  if  it  would  sub- 
mit the  nomination  of  its  governor  to  the  commissioners,  protested 
much  loyalty,  but  declined  the  intermeddling  proposition.  , 

These  gentlemen,  returning  to  Boston,  demanded  that  all  the  men 
should  be  assembled  to  hear  the  king's  message;  but  their  requisi- 
tion was  refused,  though  they  denounced  as  traitors  those  who 
opposed  the  proceeding.  The  Massachusetts  authorities  refused  to 
state  directly  whether  they  would  obey  the  commission  or  not;  and 
the  members  of  it,  to  try  their  power,  gave  notice  that  they  would 
hold  a  court  for  the  trial  of  a  cause  to  which  the  colony  was  a  party. 
But  the  general  court,  by  sound  of  trumpet,  and  proclamation  of  a 
herald,  forbade  all  persons  to  take  part  in  their  proceedings.  Foiled 
in  this  point,  the  visitors  proceeded  to  intermeddle  in  the  affuirs  of 
Maine  and  New  Ilampshire.  The  court,  with  equal  promptitude 
and  fearlessness,  met  them  by  an  order  to  the  inhabitants  of  the 
latter  to  forbear  obeying  or  abetting  them,  at  their  peril.  In  Maine, 
indeed,  they  set  up  A  royal  government;  but  not  long  after  thuir 
departure,  Massachusetts,  by  force  of  arms,  reestablished  its  authority 
there.  They  finally  returned  to  England  in  much  wrath  and  disnp- 
f>ointment,  without  having  accomplished  any  permanent  alteration 
in  the  condition  of  the  provinces. 

The  king,  in  very  natural  displeasure,  now  summoned  (166H)  some 
of  the  chief  persons  of  Massachusetts  to  appear  before  him,  and 
answer  for  the  doings  of  that  refractory  province.  The  geneml 
court,  which  met  to  consider  this  demand,  after  protracted  pruver, 
refused  compliance,  declaring  that  they  had  aireaily  expressed  their 


NEW   ENGLAND. 


147 


i 


'du- 


viewB  in  writing,  "so  that  the  ablest  person  among  us  could  not 
declare  our  case  more  fully."       -'HinMi  1     .  ,•  i    .       <    ,  ■ 

In  all  this  peremptory  resistance,  and  almost  defiance  of  the 
authority  of  the  crown,  there  was  no  lack  of  patriotic  feeling,  or  of 
affection  for  the  mother-country;  for  very  effective  assistance,  in 
provisions  and  materials,  was  rendered  to  the  English  navy,  in  the 
contest  with  France,  commencing  at  this  time;  and  whether  from 
fear  or  negligence,  the  king,  immersed  in  sensuality,  took  no  active 
measures  to  vindicate  his  claims.  After  much  discussion  in  the 
council,  it  was  considered  that  the  refractory  colony  was  too  strong 
to  meddle  with ;  that  it  might,  at  a  moment's  warning,  throw  off  its 
allegiance;  and  that  the  safest  policy  was  to  overlook  its  transgres- 
sions, and  wait  a  more  favourable  opportunity  for  enforcing  the 
obnoxious  claims. 

Meanwhile  the  province,  left  to  its  own  management,  by  the 
enterprise  and  industry  for  which  its  people  have  ever  been  distin- 
guished, prospered  in  an  extraordinary  degree.  Foreign  conn!nerce 
(for  the  Navigation  Act  was  set  at  naught)  sprung  up  with  surprising 
rapidity;  fish  and  furs  were  exported  in  quantities;  and  lumber, 
which,  by  the  then  recent  invention  of  saw-mills,  was  prepared  with 
unaccustomed  ease  from  the  almost  exhaustless  forests  of  Maine  and 
New  Hampshire,  had  already  assumed  high  importance  as  an  article 
of  traffic. 


n.  II  s:  a  ill  li    Vii. 


CONDITION    OP    THE    NEW    ENGLAND    INDIANS:    CONVERSION 
OP    SOME    OP    THEM:    THEIR    NUMBERS   AND  STRENGTH. — 
THE     POKANOKETS.  —  METACOMET.     OR    KING    PHILIP: 
HIS   GRIEVANCES:    DISSIMULATION:    SCHEME   POR   THE 
DESTRUCTION     OF     THE     ENGLISH. — CAPTAIN 
CHURCH:    HIS    CHARACTER.    ETC.:     HE   DIS- 
CONCERTS    AN     INTRIGUE     OP     PHILIP. 


Though  liable  to  the  imputation  of  blame,  for  too  persistent  en- 
croachment, even  under  the  guise  of  purchase,  upon  the  domains  of 
the  native  tribes  adjoining  them,  the  English  colonists,  to  their 
credit,  were  sincerely  desirous  of  civilizing  and  converting  their 


143 


TUK   PEOPLE'S   BOOK    OF   HISTORY. 


11 


Indian  neighbours.  Many  of  the  latter,  by  the  praiseworthy  pains 
of  their  white  friends,  had  learned  to  read  and  write,  and  one  of 
them  even  graduated  at  the  university  of  Cambridge.  The  mission- 
ary labours  of  the  admirable  John  Eliot  and  of  the  two  Mayhews, 
had  been  crowned  with  much  success  in  their  conversion.  The  for- 
mer, with  wonderful  patience  and  diligence,  had  even  prepared  and 
published,  for  their  benefit,  a  translation  cf  the  Bible,  in  the  Indian 
tongue.  The  race  for  whose  sahution  this  pious  and  laborious 
monument  of  learning  was  erected,  has  passed  entirely  away.  The 
Bible  may  still  be  found  ou  the  shelf  of  an  ancient  library,  but  no 
man  living  is  able  to  peruse  it  Around  Boston,  and  on  the  cape 
and  its  adjoining  ialundH,  villages  of  "praying  Indians"  had  been 
established,  and  friendship  with  the  settlers  had  been' thus  confirmed 
and  strengthened.  But  the  powerful  tribe  of  the  Narragansetts,  and 
that  of  the  Pokanokets,  at  this  t':;ie  (ll>76)  nearly  as  numerous,  still 
clung,  with  a  jealous  fidelity,  to  the  religion  of  their  fathers. 

In  1675,  the  number  of  Indians  in  New  England  was  roughly 
computed  at  fifty  thousand.  Unprincipled  traders  had  supplied 
them  with  fire-arms,  which  they  had  learned  to  use  with  deadly 
accuracy,  and  the  possession  of  which  gave  them  a  dangerous  con- 
sciousness of  power.  Confined,  in  a  good  measure,  by  the  continual 
extension  of  the  English  settlements,  to  peninsulas  and  necks  of  land 
(tn  the  const,  many  of  the  tribes  began  to  suffer  from  insufficient 
room  to  procure  their  customary  subsistence. 

On  the  death  of  Massasoit,  the  earliest  and  firmest  friend  of  the 
English,  his  son,  Wumsutta,  or,  as  he  was  called  by  the  latter,  Alex- 
ander, succeeded  him  in  the  sway  of  the  Pokanokets.  Only  a  few 
inontlis  alter  his  accession,  on  some  vague  suspicion,  he  was  seized 
by  a  party  of  English,  and  carried  prisoner  into  Plymouth,  \shere, 
in  a  few  days,  he  died  of  a  fever,  brought  on  by  anger  and  irritution. 
His  brother,  Metacornet,  more  commonlv  known  as  the  famous  King 
Pliili|),  succeeded  to  the  throne,  and,  from  protbund  policy,  main- 
tained an  appearance  of  great  friendship  for  the  whites.  For  nine 
years,  with  extraordinary  dissimulation,  though  cherishing  feelings 
of  revenge  for  the  death  of  his  brother,  and  the  encroachments  on 
his  territory,  he  maintained  the  appearance  of  amity.  Some  disputes, 
indeed,,  caused  by  the  latter  grievance,  as  early  as  1671,  had  occur- 
red; and  I'hili}),  .strangely  enough,  subscribed  a  set  of  articles, 
yielding  almo.st  every  point  in  question,  and,  in  a  rr'^nner,  "deliver- 
ing himself,  body  and  soul,  into  the  hands  of  the  Plymouth  author- 


NEW   ENGLAND. 


149 


itics.  His  motive,  doubtless,  was  to  blind  his  enemies  as  to  the 
extent  and  dangerous  nature  of  the  conspiracy  he  was  meditating. 
His  plan  was  nothing  less  than  the  complete  extermination  of  the 
whites,  and  in  its  prosecution  he  displayed  a  policy,  courage,  ard 
perseverance,  which,  in  a  savage,  have  never  been  surpassed.  To 
knit  the  clans  of  New  England,  immemorially  dissevered  by  tra- 
ditional feud  and  enmity,  into  a  confederacy  against  a  foe  so  terrible 
as  the  English,  might  well  have  seemed  to  the  most  sanguine  a  hope- 
less task ;  yet  such  was  the  object  to  which  Philip  bent  all  his  policy 
and  energy,  and  in  which,  to  a  great  extent,  he  succeeded."  Argu- 
ment, persuasion,  and  menace,  were  each,  in  turn,  applied  with  the 
utmost  adroitness. 

In  the  spring  of  1675,  he  sent  six  ambassadors  to  Awashonks, 
queen  of  the  Sogkonntes,  demanding,  on  pain  of  his  own  vengeance, 
and  of  exposure  (by  an  artful  dovice)  to  the  resentment  of  the  Eng- 
lish themselves,  that  the  tribe  should  join  his  league.  A  solemn 
dance  was  appointed,  to  decide  the  question,  and  Awashonks,  that 
the  opposite  party  might  not  be  unrepresented,  sent  for  her  neigh- 
bour. Captain  Benjamin  Church,  the  only  white  man  in  her  domains. 
This  celebriited  man,  one  of  the  most  famous  Indian  fighters  in  New 
England  history,  hnd  just  settled  in  the  wilderness  of  Sogkonate. 
"  lie  was  a  man  of  undaunted  courage,  of  a  sagacity  fitted  to  copo 
with  the  wiliest  tactics  of  Indian  warfare,  and,  withal,  of  a  kindly 
and  generous  disposition,  which,  except  when  engaged  in  immediate 
hostilities,  seem  to  have  secured  for  him  the  respect  and  attachment 
of  the  wild  tribes  which  he  so  often  encountered.  His  narrative,* 
written  in  his  old  age,  by  his  son,  from  his  own  notes  and  dictation, 
is  one  of  the  choicest  fragments  of  original  history  in  our  possession. 
As  a  literary  performance,  it  is  just  respectable;  but  for  vividness 
of  deti'.il  and  strength  of  expression,  it  is  something  more,  and  may 
well  bo  entitled  to  rank  with  such  rude  but  stirring  productions  as 
the  'True  Conquest'  of  Bernal  Diaz,  and  the  'True  Adventures'  of 
Captain  .John  Smith." 

On  \iis  arrival,  a  grand  council  was  held,  at  which  the  six  Wam- 
panoags  appeared  in  great  state,  making,  says  Church,  "a  formidable 
appearance,  with  their  faces  painted,  and  their  hair  trimmed  back  in 
comb  fashion,  with  their  powder-horns  and  shot-bags  at  their- backs, 
which  among  that  nation  is  the  posture  and  figure  of  preparedness 
for  war."    A  fierce  discussion  ensued,  and  a  privy  counsellor,  named 

*  "The  Eiitertiining  History  of  King  Philip's  War." 


\r^o 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


Little  Eyes,  attempted  to  draw  Church  aside,  to  privately  dispatch 
him,  but  was  prevented  by  others.  The  Englishman,  with  great 
boldness,  ndvised  Awashonks,  "to  knock  those  six  Mount  Hopes* 
on  the  head,  and  shelter  herself  under  the  protection  of  the  Engliah 
Upon  which,  the  Mount  ITopes  were  for  the  present  dumb."  He 
then  sharply  rebuked  them,  as  faithless  wretches,  thirsting  for  the 
blood  of  their  neighbours,  and  assurt  hem,  that  if  they  would  have 
war,  ho  should  j)rove  a  sharp  thorn  in  their  sides.  The  queen  and 
her  people,  overmastered  by  his  eloquence  and  energy,  dismissed  the 
embassy,  and,  fur  a  time,  observed  neutrality,  if  not  fidelity. 


CTTADTl'DTrTTT 
XXilrX£i£i     VXXI. 

COMMENCEMENT   OP   PHILIP'S   WAR. — EXPLOIT  OP  CHURCH - 

RETREAT  OP  THE  INDIANS.  —  PHILIP  ROUSES  TUK  TRIBES. 

—  DESTRUCTION    OP    TOWNS,    ETC. — THE    ATTACK    ON 

HADLBT:     REPULSED    BT    OOPPE. — ORBAT    LOSSES 

OP     THE     ENOLISU.  —  SPRINOi'IBLD     BURNED. 


It  was  soon  evident  that  Philip  was  preparing  for  active  war.  He 
sent  all  the  women  and  children  of  his  tribe  into  the  Narragansett 
country,  and  held  a  great  dance,  lasting  for  several  weeks,  with  all 
the  warriors  of  his  neighbourhood.  The  first  blow  was  struck  on 
the  24th  of  June,  in  an  attack  on  the  little  town  of  Swansey.  Nino 
of  the  settlers  were  killed,  and  the  rest  fled,  while  the  Indians  fired 
their  deserted  dwellings.  Soldiers  were  sent  from  Massachusetts, 
and  Church,  with  a  company  from  Plymouth,  hastened  to  the  fron- 
tier. Philip  was  compelled  to  flee,  but  only  to  ravage  the  country 
in  other  remote  8j)ot8.  Church,  with  only  nineteen  men,  holding  on 
in  pursuit,  at  last,  on  the  site  of  the  present  town  of  Tiverton,  fell 
in  with  three  hundred  of  the  enemy.  "The  hill,"  he  tells  us, 
"seemed  to  move,  being  covered  over  with  Indians,  with  their 
bright  guns  glittering  in  the  sun,  and  running  in  a  circumference 
with  a  design  to  surround  them."  From  a  place  of  vantage,  the 
English  defended  themselves  with  much  courage  and  desperation, 
till  taken  oil  by  a  vessel  which  came  to  their  aid,  covering  theii 

*  So  called,  from  Mount  IIop«,  the  favourite  sent  of  Philip. 


riJfO    PHILIP. 


AJ^"       Kjj* 


T  U  K.     S  £  T  r  J.  I:  It  .s     i)  y    X  /,  /»      ;■ 


.vo /..i.vjj    a  a  I. Yd    T 


r 


IN  TiiK  rniR  (IF  Till:  \sm\^  waks 


o    c  H  u  n  c  H . 


NEW  ENGLAND. 


161 


embarkation  with  her'  fire.  When  all  were  on  board  but  Church, 
that  daring  man,  who  had  left  his  hat  and  cutlass  by  a  spring,  de- 
clared he  would  never  leave  them  as  trophies  for  the  enemy.  Load- 
ing his  gun  with  his  last  charge  of  powder,  he  went  back,  and  brought 
them  off,  amid  a  shower  of  bullets,  some  of  which  grazed  his  person. 

The  English  forces,  at  last  uniting,  after  some  indecisive  engage- 
ments, compelled  Philip  and  his  warriors  to  take  refuge  in  a  great 
swamp  at  I'ocasset;  their  camp,  consisting  of  a  hundred  new  wig- 
wams, being  deserted.  A  great  number  of  Indians,  who  had  sur- 
rendered under  fair  promises,  were  treacherously  transported  as 
slaves — a  piece  of  perfidious  cruelty  against  which  Church  vainly 
remonstrated.  That  active  officer,  if  permitted,  could  at  this  time, 
probably,  by  a  close  pursuit  of  the  Indians,  have  ended  the  war,  but 
he  was  continually  thwarted  and  embarrassed  by  the  inactivity  and 
obstinacy  of  his  superiors. 

Defeated,  with  a  loss  of  thirty  warriors,  in  another  engagement, 
Philip  fled  westward,  and  excited  the  remoter  tribes  to  warfare. 
Numbers  of  the  English  were  killed,  and  several  flourishing  villages 
on  the  frontifci'  were  burned.  In  Brookfield,  however,  a  small  force, 
under  Captain  Wheeler,  besieged  in  a  building,  held  out  for  two 
days  against  several  hundred  savages,  who,  after  losing,  it  is  said, 
eighty  of  their  number,  were  compelled  by  the  arrival  of  roinforce- 
ments  to  raise  the  siege.  "  From  this  time,  an  almost  continual  suc- 
cession of  Indian  attacks  and  massacres  occurred,  and  town  after 
town  was  laid  in  ashes.  Aided  by  the  continually  exciting  causes 
of  enmity,  developed  by  war  with  a  foe  so  indefinite  as  'the  Indians,' 
Philip  had  succeeded  in  awaking  a  general  hostility  among  the 
numerous  tribes  of  the  frontier.  It  was  supposed  that  he  was  present 
at  many  of  the  scenes  of  midnight  assault  and  massacre  which,  at 
that  time,  filled  New  England  with  alarm;  but  it  is  certain  that  he 
was  seldom  recognised.  Once,  it  is  said,  he  was  seen  at  a  successful 
attack,  riding  on  a  black  horse,  leaping  fences,  and  exulting  in  the 
scene  of  destruction ;  and  again,  that  he  once  ordered  an  arm-chair 
to  be  brought  forth,  that  he  might  enjoy  at  his  ease  the  conflagra- 
tion of  a  village." 

On  the  1st  of  September,  a  simultaneous  attack  was  made  on 
Iladley  and  Deerfield,  the  latter  of  which  was  mostly  destroyed. 
The  people  of  Iladley  assembled  at  their  meeting-house,  armed  as 
usual ;  but,  taken  by  surprise  at  the  unexpected  tissault  of  the  savages, 
would  probably  have  been  overwhelmed,  but  for  an  unexpected 


III 


i! 


■m 


152 


TUB  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTOBY. 


assistance.  An  old  man,  with  long  white  hair,  dressed  in  the  fash- 
ion of  a  former  day,  suddenly  appeared,  and  assumed  the  command. 
By  his  courage  and  skillful  strategy,  he  put  the  enemy  to  flight,  and 
then  disappeared  as  suddenly  and  mysteriously  as  he  came.  Many 
of  the  people  supposed  him  to  be  an  angel,  providentially  sent  to 
their  aid;  but  he  was,  in  reality,  Major-General  Goffe,  one  of  the 
regicide  judges,  who,  with  his  companion,  Whalley,  had  been  con- 
cealed for  ten  years  in  the  cellar  cf  Mr.  Russell,  minister  of  the  town. 
'There  are  few  incidents  in  history  more  striking  than  that  of  the 
old  soldier,  so  long  immured  in  this  dismal  habitation,  roused  once 
more  by  the  clash  of  arms  and  the  discharge  of  musketry,  to  mingle, 
for  the  last  time,  in  the  half-forgotten  scenes  of  combat,  and  then 
shrinking  back  for  ever  into  the  gloom  and  twilight  of  his  subter- 
ranean abode." 

Thirty-six  men,  dispatched  to  the  relief  of  Northfield,  (where  a 
number  of  the  people  had  been  slain,)  were  mostly  cut  off  by  an  am- 
buscade, and  a  hundred  more,  consisting  of  the  finest  young  men 
in  the  country,  marching  to  Deerfield,  under  Captain  Lathrop,  sur- 
r  "unded  by  an  overwhelming  force  of  the  enemy,  afler  a  desperate 
defence,  were  all  killed,  except  seven  or  eight.  Thirty  houses  were 
burned  at  Springfield,  together  with  "the  brave  library"  of  Rev. 
Pelatiah  Glover,  which  had  once  been  carried  to  a  place  of  safety — 
"but  the  said  minister,  a  great  student,  and  an  helluo  librorum,  being 
impatient  fo»'  want  of  his  books,  brought  them  back,  to  his  great 
sorrow,  for  a  bonfire  for  the  proud  insulting  enemy.  Of  all  the  mis- 
chiefs," continues  Rev.  Mr.  Hubbard,  ("Indian  Wars,")  "done  by 
the  said  enemy  before  that  day,  the  burning  of  this  said  town  of 
Springfield  did  more  than  any  other  discover  the  said  actors  to  be 
the  children  of  the  devil,  full  of  all  subtlety  and  malice,"  «Sic.,  &c.  The 
sympathy  of  the  learned  and  studious  may  well  travel  back  a  couple 
of  centuries,  to  condole  with  the  unfortunate  scholar,  widowed  of  liis 
library — his  loss  irreparable — bookless — in  the  American  wilderness. 


» 


NEW  ENGLAND.  I53 


PHILIP'S    WAR,    CONTINUED. — DESTRrCTION    OP    THE    NAB- 
EAQANSETT     FORT:      TERRIBLE     MA88ACRF  — MALIGNANT 
EXULTATION   OP   THE   EARLY   HISTORIANS. — INDIAN   SUC- 
CESSES.— CAPTURE  AND   DEATH    OP    CANONCHET:    HIS 
HEROISM  AND  MAGNANIMITY. — DIPLOMACY  OP  CHURCH. 

At  Hatfield,  in  October,  the  garrison  and  town's  people  beat  off 
a  body  of  seven  or  eight  hundred  savages  who  attacked  the  place; 
and  during  the  beginning  of  the  ensuing  winter,  little  was  done  by 
either  party,  the  Indians  suffering  greatly  from  want  and  exposure. 
i  ailip  and  his  warriors,  it  was  supposed,  had  taken  refuge  with  the 
Narragansetts.  The  English  now  resolved  to  crush  this  latter  tribe, 
as  the  most  easily  accessible,  on  account  of  the  shelter  they  had 
afforded  to  the  cuemy.  Five  hundred  soldiers,  under  command  of 
Jo8i;xs  Winslow,  guvornoi'  of  Plymouth,  were  dispatched  against  the 
devoted  tribe,  and  on  the  afternoon  of  December  19th,  a  bitter  win- 
ter's day,  after  a  forced  march,  arrived  at  their  principal  fort.  It 
was  built  on  a  plateau  of  elevated  ground  in  a  great  swamp,  and 
the  only  access  to  it  was  by  the  trunk  of  a  large  tree,  lying  in  the 
water.  Across  this  bridge  of  peril,  the  assailants,  with  much  loss, 
ra^de  iheir  way,  and  aftsr  a  desperate  battle  within,  lasting  for  some 
hours,  firing  the  fort,  renewed  the  terrible  tragedy  of  Groton.  Seven 
hundred  of  the  Narragansett  wai-riors  are  said  to  have  fallen  in  the 
fight,  and  nearly  half  that  number  afterwards  perished  of  their 
wounds.  "  The  number  of  old  men,  wt  men,  and  children,"  says 
Rev.  Mr.  Hubbard,  "that  perished  either  by  fire,  or  that  were 
starved  with  cold  and  hunger,  none  could  tell."  "They  were  ready," 
he  uarrates,  in  a  strain  of  disgusting  levity,  "to  dress  their  dinner, 
but  our  sudden  and  unexpected  assault  put  them  beside  that  work, 
making  their  cook-rooms  too  hot  for  them  at  that  time  when  they 
and  their  mitchen  fried  together:  And  probably  some  of  them  eat 
their  suppers  in  a  colder  ijiace  that  night,  most  of  their  provisions 
as  well  i\s  huts  being  consumed  by  fire,  nd  those  that  were  ^^fk 
alive  forced  to  hide  themselves  in  a  cedar  swamp,  not  far  off,  \  :.  :e 
they  had  nothing  to  defend  them  from  the  cold  but  boughs  of  spruce 
and  piije  trees!" 


in 


t^^-i'^^i 


164 


THii  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


The  defeated  nation  did  not  full  unavenged,  eighty  of  the  English 
being  slain  outright,  and  an  hundred  and  fifty  wounded,  many  of 
vvhom  perished  on  the  return  march,  rendered  terrible  by  the  sever- 
ity of  the  season,  and  the  want  of  proper  suppliei?.  (^anoiiiihrt,  (the 
son  of  Miantonimc)  the  brave  young  sachem  '1  the  Narragausetts 
with  the  relics  of  i)is  force,  took  refuge  in  the  '.vest,  ,•  lere.  \n  con- 
cert with  P'lilip,  lui  planned  schemes  of  venp.eful  repr.'«»l.  Laii- 
caster  and  Medfield  (the  latter  onlj'  twei  ty  mika  from  l>oat  /n)  wer  ■ 
burned,  and  nearly  %  hundred  c''  the  set;.l  -rs  wc" ;  killed  or  carried 
off.  Portions  of  Proviilence  and  Weymoulii  were  also  destroyed 
and  two  companies,  each  of  fifty  nun,  were  successively  "swallowed 
up"  by  the  victorious  enemy. 

The  first  c'lt^ck  to  this  spirited  rcmJWJil  of  ihe  war,  was  the  cip- 
taro  of  the  b;Mve  Canonchet,  who,  hav'Mg  rused  t%  force  ..  •*  many 
h'lu'irofl  rasn;  to  ensure  provision  for  their  auppor*.  had  ventured 
eat  Ajird  xvh  a  fev;  warriors,  to  procure  seed  for  plantation.  He 
wuf;  fhot  31  .StO'iington,  having  "refused  to  purchase  his  life  by  pro- 
cnrirsg  t.  p  Knbali^^;ion  of  his  injured  tribe;  i>nd  met  his  death  with 
the  hij^hest  courasjfe  and  fortitude — a  true  patriot,  and  a  hero,  whose 
soul,  fx)  judge  from  h.'s  brief  sayings,  was  ca,^t  iu  an  almost  class- 
ical mould," 

"This,"  says  Mr.  Hubbard,  "was  the  confusion"  (confounding^ 
"of  a  damned  wretch,  that  had  oft«n  opened  his  mouth  to  blas- 
pheme the  name  of  the  living  God,  and  those  thiit  make  profession 
thereof,  lie  was  told  at  large  of  his  breach  of  faith,  and  how  he 
had  boasted  thai  he  would  not  deliver  up  a  Wampanoag  nor  tJie  paring 
of  a  Wampano'i'fs  nail,  that  he  would  burn  the  English  alive  in 
their  houses;  to  which  he  replied,  otJiers  were  as  forward  for  tJie  war 
as  himself,  and  he  deairsd.  to  Jiear  no  more  thereof,  A  nd  when  he  was 
told  his  sentence  was  to  die,  he  said,  he  liked  it  well,  that  he  should 
die  before  his  heart  was  soft,  or  he  had  spoken  anything  unwo.t/iy  of  him- 
Gtif     He  told  the  English  before  they  put  hi  death,  tliat  the 

lillimj  him  would  not  end  the  UMr;  but  it  was  a  considerable  ttep 
thereunto." 

In  the  spring  of  1676,  the  war  continued  to  rage,  several  desperate 
actions  being  fought,  with  alternate  success — part  of  Plymouth  and 
other  towns  being  burned,  and  great  loss  res-  Iting  to  both  parties. 
The  Indians,  indeed,  suffered  grievously  frof  l.J  and  hunger;  and 
a  fdrce  of  cavalry,  from  Connecticut,  aided  .  body  of  Mohegans, 
was  vor\     ^ectually  employed  agair'-t  th  Two  hundred  were 


NEW   ENGLAND. 


155 


made  prisoners  on  one  occasion ;  five  or  six  hundred  surrendered  on 
ii  rioubtful  promise  of  mercy;  and  many  migrated  to  the  west. 
Philip  and  his  people  still  held  out,  and  kept  the  settlements  in 
continual  dread  of  attack,  nis  final  defeat  and  destruction  was  due 
to  the  energy  of  Captain  (aflerwarda  colonel)  Church,  who  had  per- 
formed active  service  during  the  war,  and  who,  immediately  on 
recovering  from  his  wounds,  devoted  himself  to  the  task  of  bringing 
it  to  an  end. 

The  Sogkonates,  at  this  time,  were  in  alliance  with  Philip,  and 
to  detach  them  from  the  hostile  league,  with  only  a  single  companion 
the  captain  boldly  ventured  into  their  country.  He  narrowly 
escaped  with  his  life  from  the  vengeance  of  some  of  them,  but,  by 
his  persuasions  and  arguments,  at  last  so  completely  won  the  confi- 
dence of  the  tribe,  that  the  chief  warrior  rose,  and  placed  himself 
and  all  the  rest  at  his  disposal,  saying,  "We  will  help  you  to  Philip's 
head,  ere  the  Indian  corn  be  ripe."  With  an  extraordinary  savage 
pantomime,  the  clan  performed  the  ceremony  of  swearing  allegiance 
to  their  new  commander,  and  the  desertion  of  these  allies,  we  are 
told,  "broke  Philip's  heart  as  soon  as  he  understood  it,  so  as  he 
never  rejoiced  after,  or  had  success  in  any  of  his  designs." 


CTT    A   p  nn  p  T)     "Y 
iLiLXirXJUiU      lAi* 

PHILIP'S    WAR,     CONTINUED. — SHCCESSPUL     CAMPAIGN     OP 

CHURCH. DEPKAT    AND    CAPTUIIE    OF    THE    SAVAGES. — 

PHILIP'S  DESPAIll:    HE    IlKTRKATS   TO   MOUNT   HOPE:    IS 

OEPEATED    AND    SLAIN:      BAKRAKOUS     EXPOSURE 

OP     HIS     REMAINS:     HIS     CHARACTER. 

With  an  English  force,  and  a  c()!lsi^lerable  number  of  Indian  war- 
riors, Church,  ill  June,  1676,  oomintMiceil  an  active  campaign  ajjainst 
the  enemy,  scouring  the  woods  in  all  directions,  and  killing  or 
making  prisoners  of  great  numbers  of  the  hostile  savages.  "In  the 
midi't  of  thi>  oncompromising  warfare,  we  find  him  exhibiting  a 
Iiurnunity  ind  good  'hiili  uncominon  at  the  time,  using  every  exer- 
tion to  prevail'  torture  and  cruelty,  and  vehemently  prot<isting 
against  any  ill  usage  of  t\.K  natives  who  .-surrendered.     Once  he  fell 


156 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


in  with  Little  Ej'es,  (who  would  have  killed  him  at  Awnshonk'a 
dance,)  and  his  Indians  wished  him  to  be  revenged.  'But  the  Cap- 
tain told  them  it  was  not  Englishmen's  fashion  to  seek  revenge,' nnd 
took  especial  care  for  his  safety  and  protection."  The  finest  cf  his 
captives  he  selected  for  his  own  service,  and,  singular  to  state,  such 
was  the  fascination  of  his  manner,  and  his  acquaintance  with  the 
Indian  character,  that  he  generally  converted  these  recruits  into 
devoted  followers. 

Pursuing  the  enemy  into  the  Narrag.insett's  country,  "he  came 
to  Taunton  river,  over  which  the  Indians  had  felled  a  large  tree  for 
the  purpose  of  crossing.  On  the  stump,  at  the  opposite  side,  sat  a 
solitary  warrior.  Church  quietly  raised  his  gun,  but  was  prevented 
from  firing  by  the  suggestion  that  it  was  a  friend.  The  Indian 
aroused  by  the  noise,  looked  up.  It  was  Philip  himself,  musing 
drearily,  no  doubt,  on  the  fallen  fortunes  of  his  race.  Ere  a  gun 
could  again  be  levelled,  he  sprang  up,  and  bounded  like  a  deer  into 
the  forest."  Closely  following  his  track,  the  English  at  last  came 
up  with  the  relics  of  the  enemy,  who  were  posted  in  a  swamp.  Tho 
latter,  after  a  sharp  skirmish,  were  defeated,  and  an  hundred  and 
seventy-three,  including  women  and  children,  were  taken  captive. 
Philip  and  most  of  his  warriors  escaped,  but  his  wife  and  child  were 
among  the  prisoners.  The  latter  described  his  condition  as  forlorn 
in  llie  extreme,  and  said,  that  after  this  last  misfortune,  he  was 
quite  inconsolable. 

"The  unhappy  .sachem,  after  seeing  his  followers,  one  after  ?>n- 
other,  fall  before  the  English,  or  desert  his  failingcau.se,  had  betaken 
himself,  like  some  wild  animal  hard  driven  by  the  hunters,  to  his 
pncient  haunt,  the  former  residence  of  his  father,  the  friendly  Mas- 
pasoit.  In  all  the  plea.sant  region  washed  by  the  jircling  Narragan- 
sett,  there  is  no  spot  more  beautiful  than  that  miniature  mountain, 
the  home  of  the  old  sachems  of  the  Wampanoags.  But  with  what 
feelings  the  la.st  of  their  number,  a  fugitive  before  inveterate  foes 
nnd  recreant  followers,  looked  on  the  pleasant  habitation  of  his 
fathers,  may  more  ea.sily  be  imagined  than  described.  Still,  he 
sternly  rejected  all  proposals  for  peace,  and  even  slew  one  of  his 
own  followers,  who  had  ventured  to  speak  of  treaty  with  the  Kng- 
li.sh,  Tr.e  brother  of  this  victim,  naturally  enraged  and  alienated 
from  his  cause,  at  once  deserted  to  the  enemy,  and  gave  the  informa- 
tion which  led  U)  his  final  ruin, 

"A  few  brave  warriors  yet  remained  faithful  to  him,  and  with 


NEW  ENGLAND. 


167 


these  and  their  women,  and  children,  he  had  taken  refuge  in  a  swamp 
hard  by  the  mountfin,  on  a  little  spot  of  rising  ground.  In  that 
troubled  night,  the  last  of  his  life,  the  sachem,  we  are  told,  had 
dreamed  of  his  betrayal,*  and  awaking  early,  was  recounting  the 
vision  to  his  companions,  when  the  foe  came  suddenly  upon  him. 
Uis  old  enemy,  Church,  who  was  familiar  with  the  ground,  coming 
lip  quietljf  in  the  darkness  of  night,  had  posted  his  followers,  both 
English  and  Indian,  so  as,  if  possible,  to  prevent  any  from  escaping. 
The  result  was  almost  immediate.  After  several  volleys  had  been 
rapidly  fired,  Philip,  attempting  to  gain  a  secure  position,  came  in 
range  of  an  ambush,  and  was  instantly  shot  through  the  heart  by 
one  Alderman,  an  Indian  under  Church's  command.  He  fell  on  his 
fiice  with  his  gun  undev  him,  and  died  without  a  struggle.  (August 
12,  1676,)"t  Most  of  the  warriors,  under  old  Annawon,  Philip's 
chief  captain,  made  their  escape. 

The  body  of  the  unfortunate  sachem  was  drawn  from  the  swamp, 
a  spectacle  of  exultation  for  "the  army;"  and  Church,  following  the 
barbarous  fashion  of  the  time,  declared  "that,  forasmuch  as  he  had 
caused  many  an  Englishman's  body  to  be  unburied  and  to  rot  above 
ground,  no  one  of  his  bones  should  be  buried."  "This  Agag"  says 
Cotton  Mather,  spitefully  enough,  "  was  now  cut  into  quarters,  which 
were  then  hanged  up,  while  his  head  was  carried  in  triumph  to 
Plymouth,  where  it  arrived  on  the  very  day  that  the  church  there 
was  keeping  a  solemn  thanksgiving  to  God.  God  sent  'en,  ihe  head 
of  a  leviathan  for  a  thanksgiving  feast."  The  festivity  of  the  modf^^n 
observance  of  the  same  name,  it  is  certain,  could  hardly  be  enh; 
by  the  arrival  of  a  human  head,  even  though  it  were  that  of  a  brave 
and  inveterate  foe. 

"The  ghastly  relic  was  long  exposed  in  that  town,  an  object  of 
mingled  horror  and  satisfaction  tc  the  citizens;  and  when  the  flesh 
was  fallen  away,  and  the  dry  jaw  could  be  rattled  with  the  skull,  a 
grave  historian  records  with  satisfaction  his  odious  trifling  with  the 
remains,  which,  in  their  life-time,  he  would  not  havo  dared  to  ap- 
proach 'for  all  below  the  moon.'  The  only  reward  allotted  to  the 
victors  was  a  bounty  of  thirty  shillings  on  the  head  o2  v  slain 
Indian;  and  Church,  with  some  reason,  complains  that  Philip's  was 

*  )Ir.  Hubbnrd,  for  a  wonder,  does  not  fully  adopt  this  account,  hut  dismisses  it 
piirenthetically,  "(whether  the  devil  nppt-ared  to  him  in  a  dream  that  nigiit,  as  he  did 
tint')  Sanl{-',<  'orelxidiiig  his  tragical  end,  it  matters  not,")  &,c.,  &c. 

+  Discoverers,  &c.,  of  America. 


Ijfii 


158 


THE  I'EOrLE'S    UOOK   OF  HISTORY. 


rated  no  iiighcr  than  tbo  rest.     The  sinewy  right  hand  of  the  sachem 
much  scarred  b)  the  bursting  of  a  pistol,  was  given  to  Alderman,  'to 
show  to  such  gentlemen  as  would  bestoM'^  gratuities  upon  him;  and 
accordingly  h.'  got  many  a  penny  by  it.'* 

"Thus  died  r'ii)i|j ./  Pokanoket,  the  last  sacht  rn  of  the  Wompp.- 
noags,  tli'^  -rif^iiio!'  >i  ad  the  head  of  that  terrible  confederacy  which 
80  lon^'  ki^pt  hvw  England  in  dread  and  consternation,  and  which 
at  one  linu-,  seemed  almost  to  threaten  its  entire  destruction,  llo 
was,  undoubtedly,  a  man  far  superior  to  the  generality  of  his  race,  iu 
boldness,  sagacity,  and  policy;  his  powers  of  persuasion  were  extra- 
or  iiiuiry ;  and  the  terrifyin<^'  rr  .'.U  •  i  hia  enmity  sufTiciently  evinced 
the  anibiliuiis  nature  ■!  iii»  scheme,  and  ;'ie  genius  with  which  it 
was  conducted.  The*division  and  barbarous  exposure  of  his  remains 
entailed  disgrace,  not  on  him,  but  on  the  authors  of  the  profanation- 
his  sufferings  and  the  injuries  of  his  family  have  awakened  in  suc- 
ceeding generations  somewhat  of  that  sympathy  which  is  always  due 
to  mi,  iortune;  and  though  the  defeated  leader  of  a  ruined  confed- 
eratioii,  his  name,  more  than  that  ot  any  other  of  the  Indian  race 
has  always  excited  the  interest,  if  not  the  admiration  of  mankind."| 


Crr    A    p  fp  -p  T)     Y  T 
juLilXlJCiXi     JL  1, 

philip's  war,   concluded. — captdr8  op   annawon  and 
his  warrh'rs,    by  church.  —  roma.ntic   incidents- 
summary  of  tht  war, — philip's  son.  —  bal'.barous 
policy   ok   thk    victors.  —  murdkrous    advicb, — 
th;^  tharai  ter  op  the  puritans. — reflections, 

Chi'RCII,  with  a  small  force,  followed  closely  on  the  track  of 
Annawon  ,  nd  ilie  few  war'i'>rs  whom  uith  and  desertion  had  yet 
left  to  maintain  the  ruined  >  ause  of  the  I'okanokets;  and,  at'itT  long 
and  weari.some  pursuit,  at  len'T'')  learned  from  a  captive  the  place  of 
his  retreat.  In  his  ejuf  rne.>»8  to  surprise  the  foe  (who  never  camped 
two  nights  ill  the  sa  ■:  lac*'  with  only  half  a  do/en  friendly  In 
(lian.s,  he  p<;t  forth,  wi.n  exl      )rdinary  boldness,  on  the  adventure. 


•  "Cliurih's  "Entertaiiiiinj  History.' 


f  Diacovorert,  &.c ,  of  Ainerica. 


♦  •' 


C.I  r  r.i  I x  II  f.  jV .1 .1  m  IX   c  n  u n  c  n , 

THE      INDIAN      riOIITER. 

BORN    1610:      OVERCAME     MirTAroMtrr    (KING     nilLIP).    Ai;Gt;ST     IZ    Ifi^H ;      OIKO 
1  JANTARV  n   H1» 


/ 


'Hi 


I  '11 


M»> 


.:,S 


BBH 

^'SMI 

^^^^^■jfl 

'kfffi^BttJ^^H 

^^^^^^^■H 

LM|ffi^B 

■■1 

t,afiUfl||H 

^^^^^^^1 

ft  WHIf7"w.f 

^^^^^^^HH 

jK,4 

^■^H| 

■^  'MHMHI 

^H|^| 

;.pjs:'i«:-3Pn 

^^H 

I.Jt_.,.i'SM  I* 

^^^^^^^^^1 

WMK^ 

NEW    ENOLAND. 


169 


The  bivouac  of  the  fVi^itives  was  in  a  place  of  remarkable  security 
and  (HITiculty  of  accesw,  yet  the  captain,  with  his  allies,  lowering 
theiiselvcH  by  bushcH  over  the  face  of  a  precipitous  rock,  took  tho 
enemy,  mostly  sleeping,  by  surprise,  and  secured  their  guns,  which 
were  all  stacked  together  at  the  head  of  Annawon.  That  redoubted 
warrior,  his  weapons  lost,  surrendered,  and  the  rest  followed  his 
example.  Church  promising  to  use  all  his  influence;  in  behalf  of  their 
lives,  "I  am  come  to  sup  with  you,"  he  said,  pleasantly,  to  Anna- 
won,  and  tho  latter  bidding  his  women  prepare  a  meal,  the  two  cap- 
tains feasted  together  in  perfect  harmony. 

Did  those  limits  allow,  it  would  be  pleasing  to  dwell  on  the 
romantic  incidents  of  this  most  wonderful  surprise;  how  the  whole 
company,  wearied  with  pursuit  and  flight,  were  soon  wrapped  in 
slumber,  all  but  the  two  leaders,  who  lay  looking  at  each  other  by 
the  glimmering  light  of  the  embers;  how  Annawon  arose  and  dis- 
appeared in  the  darkness,  but  ere  long  returned,  bearing  a  powder- 
horn,  a  scarlet  blanket,  and  two  splendid  belts  of  wampum,  the 
regalia  of  tho  unfortunate  Philip;  how  he  solemnly  invested  Church 
with  these  royalties,  as  the  victor  over  the  last  of  the  hostile  tribe; 
and  how,  in  the  words  of  the  captain,  "they  spent  the  remainder  of 
the  night  in  discourse,  and  Annawon  gave  an  account  of  what 
mighty  success  he  had  formerly  in  wars  against  many  nations  of 
Indians,  when  he  served  Asuhmequin,"  (Massasoit,)  "  Philip's  father." 

This  exploit  ended  Philip's  war — a  war  which,  though  it  lasted 
only  a  year  and  a  half,  seemed  almost  to  threaten  the  destruction  of 
New  England.  Thirteen  towns  had  been  laid  in  ashes,  and  many 
others  partially  destroyed,  six  hundred  dwellings,  in  all,  being 
burned  by  the  enemy.  Six  hundred  Englishmen  had  lost  their 
lives,  and  the  prosperity  of  the  whole  country  had  been  grievously 
checked  and  retarded.  But  if  misfortune  was  experienced  by  the 
victors,  utter  ruin  and  almost  annihilation  awaited  the  vanquished. 
In  war,  in  conflagration,  by  starvation  and  cold,  such  vast  numbers 
had  perished,  that  the  cflbctive  force  of  the  hostile  tribes  was  com- 
pletely broken,  and  many  of  them  were  nearly  extinguished.  With 
the  great  number  of  prisoners,  and  the  almost  equally  numerous 
portion,  who  surrendered  on  the  promise  or  in  the  hopq  of  mercy,  a 
cruel  and  barbarous  policy  was  adopted.  The  chief  warriors  were 
put  to  death;  among  them,  Annawon,  whose  life  Church  vainly 
endeavoured  to  save,  as  well  from  goo<l  faith  and  humanity,  as  for 


the  value  of  his  services  in  future  warfare. 
Vol.  IV.— 39 


The  rest,  with  tho 


160 


THE  PEOrXiE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


women  and  children,  were  made  slaves,  most  of  tbem  being  trans- 
ported and  sold  in  the  West  Indies. 

'  "In  regard  to  the  son  of  Philip,  (a  child  only  nine  years  old,)  the 
authorities  seem  to  have  been  greatly  exercised  in  spirit.  There 
were  so  many  nice  precedents  for  his  execution  to  be  found  in 
Scripture,  and  security,  as  well  as  vengeance,  would  be  satisfied  by 
the  destruction  of  the  whole  house  of  their  dreaded  enemy.  Nothing 
can  bettor  show  the  venomous  spirit  of  the  times,  or  the  depraving 
influence  of  a  barbarous  theology,  than  the  following  extract  from 
a  letter,  written  by  Rev.  Increase  Mather,  the  minister  of  Boston,  to 
his  friend,  Mr.  Cotton:  *If  it  had  not  been  out  of  my  mind,  when  I 
was  writing,  I  should  have  said  something  about  Philip's  son.  It 
is  necessary  that  some  effectual  course  should  be  taken  about  him.  ffe 
makes  me  think  of  Hadad,  who  was  a  little  child  when  his  father  {the 
chief  sachem  of  the  Edomites)  was  killed  by  Joab,  and  had  not  others 
fled  away  with  him,  I  am  apt  to  think,  that  David  would  Bave  taken 
a  course  that  Hadad  should  never  have  proved  a  scourge  to  the  next 
generation.'  More  humane  counsels,  however,  prevailed,  and  the 
poor  child  was  only  shipped  as  a  slave  to  Bermuda! 

"  Ijjcidents,  such  as  these,  commonly  suppressed  by  popular  writers 
are  not  uselessly  rScalled,  in  obtaining  a  just  view  of  the  spirit  of 
the  past.  With  all  honour  to  the  truly-great  and  respectable  quali- 
ties of  our  Nt\7  England  ancestors — to  their  courage,  their  con- 
stancy, their  morality,  and  their  devotion — it  is  useless  to  disguise 
the  fact  that,  in  the  grand  essentials  of  charity  and  humanity,  they 
were  no  wise  in  advance  of  their  age,  and  in  the  less  essential,  but 
not  less  desirable  articles  of  amenity  and  magnanimity,  most  de- 
cidedly behind  it.  But  a  certain  infusion  of  disagreeable  qualities 
seems  almost  an  inseparable  constituent  of  that  earnestness,  which 
alone  can  successfully  contend  with  great  obstacles,  either  human  or 
natural — with  civil  tyranny  and  religious  persecution — with  the 
privations  and  dangers  of  the  wilderness,  and  the  unsparing  enmity 
of  its  savage  inhabitants. 

"The  communities,  founded  by  men  thus  strongly  but  imperfectly 
mouH'jd,  hive,  with  the  genial  influence  of  time,  and  by  the  admini' 
ble  elements  of  freedom  contained  in  their  origin,  grndnally  grown 
into  a  commonwealth,  freer  from  the  ermrs  which  disgraced  iheir 
founders  than  any  other  on  the  face  of  the  earth.  Their  prejudice 
has  become  principle,  their  superstition  has  refinod  into  religion; 
and  their  very  bigotry  has  softened  down   to   h  ■crality.    While 


■*y 


NEW   ENGLAND. 


161 


enjoying  the  results  of  .this  ameliorating  process,  their  descendants 
may  well  be  charitable  to  those  whose  footsteps  not  only  broke 
through  the  tangled  recesses  of  the  actual  forest,  but  who,  in  tread- 
ing  pathways  through  the  moral  wilderness,  occasionally  stum- 
bled, or  left  behind  thsm  a  track  too  rugged  or  too  tortuous  to  be 
followed."*  ?i>'ioi'i 

-I'Sif  "iflt  ,ui',>i;r;i(!  )      .fan''-'     ,  (;  ;  'iM  'i.iij<.T./'    ^:   , ':  ■,- •..■7 'i".,    , 

bi-,iI-'lH£li    .':<h-AMv\P.:l>  --'---,- — -  ■  ''•   iti--        ,!'■  '•.,•■■'-     •. 

':;fl    ';;   f-nrhti?    P    '■•'  '  -.<'         '    l,  .  I     ,/     . 

:;i!  ,hnoi}i.f'.!''f."4    P  TT  A  D  T  1?  P      Y  T  T    ■'        ''  '  " 

RENEWED    INTERFERENCE    OF     THE    CROWN    IN    MASSACHU- 
SETTS.— SEVERANCE    OF    NEW    HAMPSHIRE:    ATTEMPT    TO 
TYRANNIZE   THERE:    ITS  FAILURE.  —  ACTION  OF   MAS- 
SACHUSETTS.—  PROCEEDINCS  AGAINST  ITS  CHARTER. 
— VAIN    OPPOSITION    AND    REMONSTRANCE. 


7v<>nv 


■■tiWf- 


THE    CHARTER    ANNULLED. 


The  English  government,  gaining  courage  from  the  gradual  estab- 
lishment of  arbitrary  power  at  home,  and  still  desirous  to  curb 
the  growing  spirit  of  independence  in  Massachusetts,  in  1676,  dis- 
patched thither  Edward  Bundolph  as  its  special  agent.  This  func- 
tionary was  coldly  received  by  the  provincial  authorities,  who  again 
explicitly  denied  the  right  of  the  crown  or  the  parliament  to  inter- 
meddle with  its  government  Keturning,  after  a  sojourn  of  only 
sis  weeks,  to  England,  he  excited  the  jealousy  and  inflamed  the 
cupidity  of  the  court  by  very  exaggerated  accounts  of  its  wealth  and 
population.  By  a  decision  of  the  privy  council,  the  claim  of  Mas- 
sachusetts, certainly  rather  untenable,  to  jurisdiction  over  Mame  and 
New  Hampshire,  was  set  aside.  Nevirtheless,  by  purchase  from  the 
heirs  of  the  patentee  (Gorges)  she  spied! ly  again  got  possession  of 
great  part  of  the  former  province;  and,  whereas  it  had  formerly 
been  considered  an  integral  part  of  her  dominion,  it  was  now  gov- 
erned as  a  mere  colony  of  Massachusetts,  the  officers  being  appointed 
by  those  of  that  state.  This  change  naturally  led  to  much  discon- 
tent, the  manifestation  of  which,  however,  was  forcibly  suppressed 
by  the  new  claimant  of  sovereignty. 

In  New  Hampshire,  severed  from  Massachusetts,  a  direct  royal 

•      . ,  •  Diacoverers,  ditc.,  of  America. 


■H-J 


I 


162 


THE   PEOPLK'S   BOOK   OF   HISTOKY. 


M' 


tli 


government  was  set  up,  the  officses  of  president,  &c.,  being  filled  by 
the  act  of  the  crown.  A  popular  assembly  was  allowed,  which,  at 
its  first  meeting  (1680),  took  occasion  to  assert  the  independence  of 
the  province,  declaring  that  no  law  or  ordinance  should  be  valid 
unless  "made  by  the  assembly  and  approved  by  the  people."  The 
patentee,  at  issue  with  the  colonists  on  matters  of  title,  procured  for 
himself  the  authority  of  appointing  a  governor.  Cranfield,  the  per- 
son selected,  a  man  of  rapacious  and  arbitrary  disposition,  hastened 
to  the  infant  colony,  in  strong  hopes  of  making  a  fortune  at  the 
expense  of  its  inhabitants.  Disappointed  in  his  expectations,  he 
committed  u  thou.sand  rash  and  tyrannical  acts,  continually  inter- 
fering in  matters  beyond  his  authority,  both  civil  and  religious,  and 
striving,  on  false  and  impudent  pretexts,  to  wring  money  from  the 
slenderly-filled  purses  of  the  settlers.  To  these  exactions  the  assem- 
bly and  people  opposed  as  determined  a  resistance — a  resistance 
whicli  the  latter  finally  carried  to  the  extreme  of  openly  maltrcatin" 
his  officers;  and,  with  his  hopes  of  plunder  and  profit  almost  quite 
ungratified,  he  returned  to  England,  bearing  a  malicious  rep^i t  o' 
the  condition  of  the  province. 

In  view  of  the  prospective  danger  to  the  liberties  of  Ma.ssachusetts 
a  general  synod  of  all  the  churches  was  convoked,  while  the  general 
court,  by  some  formal  enactments,  in  testimony  of  its  loyalty,  souitIu 
to  avert  the  royal  Ji^plfasure.  The  kiui,''s  arms  were  put  uj)  on  the 
court-house,  and  two  or  three  acts  in  support  of  the  royal  digiutv 
were  passed;  and,  though  the  Navigation  Act  was  expressly  .Ja- 
clared  illegal  and  not  binding,  the  general  court,  by  an  act  of  ita 
own,  rendered  its  provisions  valid  and  effective.  The  king,  who 
certi\inly  exhibited  considerable  moderation,  twice  again  dispiilcluil 
a  nies.sage  of  remonstrance  to  Massachusetts  on  its  opposition  to  the 
home-government,  and  it  was  evident  that  extreme  measures  would 
finally  be  resorted  to.  The  province,  in  1682,  dispatched  agents  to 
England  U)  defend  its  interests;  and,  if  po.ssible,  to  bribe  the  king 
into  protecting  them.  Tlieir  mitwion  wa.s  in  vain;  and  that  thi-. 
charter  was  in  danger,  wius  evident  from  the  systemalie  warf.ir 
aj^airust  civic  cor{)orations  then  being  waged  by  the  court  in  Enghiiu  , 
Great  agitation  {tervadod  the  province.  Maine  was  surrendered,  but 
it  was  resolved  to  hold  the  eliarter  an  long  as  possible. 

Legal  proceedings  were  commenced  against  its  holders  in  the 
English  courts;  and  the  judges,  in  those  times,  l)eing  generally  mere 
creatures  of  the  i  town,  only  one  issue  could  be  looked  for.     The 


NEW   ENGLAND. 


163 


king,  at  this  juncture,  once  more  suggested  the  wisdom  of  a  direct 
submission,  promising,  on  that  condition,  his  favour,  and  as  little 
infringement  on  their  charter  as  might  consist  with  the  right  of  his 
government.  Judging  from  the  fate  of  the  civic  corporations  in 
England,  (for  even  London  had  been  compelled  to  succumb  before 
the  royal  power,)  the  prospect  of  successful  resistance  in  the  courts 
of  law  appeared  entirely  hopeless.  The  governor  and  magistrates 
accordingly  resolved  at  last  to  try  the  effect  of  u'l  unqualified  sub- 
mission, and  throw  themselves  on  the  king's  forbearance.  A 
proposal  that  agents,  to  receive  the  royal  commands,  should  be  dis- 
patched to  England,  was  sent  in  to  the  house  of  deputies ;  but  that 
more  popular  body,  after  an  animated  debate  of  a  fortnight,  refused, 
by  their  own  act,  to  sanction  the  surrender  of  their  liberties.  The 
successful  opposition  of  former  times  was  recalled,  and  it  was  even 
urged  as  a  matter  of  religion  not  voluntarily  to  put  the  state  into 
the  hands  of  a  power  inimical  to  its  professed  faith.  With  extraor- 
dinary firmness  and  spirit,  they  resolved  to  make  no  voluntary 
sacrifice,  and  only  to  fall,  as  a  body  politic,  before  the  pressure  of 
superior  power.  The  latter  result  must  have  been  ibreseen.  Re- 
monstrance to  the  king  proved  fruitless;  and  in  June,  1684,  the 
English  judges,  then,  as  from  the  earliest  times,  mere  agents  to  effect 
the  pleasure  of  the  crow  declared  the  charter  forfeited.  Thus,  for 
a  time,  fell  the  independence  of  Massachusetts — an  independence,  it 
must  be  owned,  at  times,  ungraciously  asserted  and  arbitrarily  exer- 
cised; but  of  which  the  main  defects  lay  in  the  fact  that  it  was  an 
independence  rather  in  name  than  in  fact;  the  authority  of  the 
magistrates,  and  the  overshadowing  influence  of  the  church,  consti- 
tuting a  species  of  mingled  aristocracy  and  theocracy  sufficiently 
re^iugnant  to  more  enlightened  ideas  of  fseedom.  Yet,  doubtless, 
evei.  this  imperfect  form  of  liberty  and  seif-go/ernment  was  in  the 
Lighes.'  degree  useful  in  training  fhe  minds  of  the  colonists  to  a 
jealousy  of  foreign  power,  and  fostering  the  germ  of  a  firmer  and 
more  liberal  national  spirit. 


II 


'.i  '    n    ;    i..     it',-  ".   ,: 


SETTLEMENT  OF  THE  CAROLINAS. 


fAILDRE   TO   PLANT   COLONIES   IN  THE   SOUTH.  —  IMIORATIOlf 
PROM   VIRGINIA   TO  NORTH  CAROLINA:    FROM  BARBADOES  TO 
SOUTH    CAROLINA. — THE   PATENT    OF    CHARLES    II. — 
LEGISLATION    OF    LOCKE   AND   SHAFTESBURY. — CUM- 
BROUS SYSTEM  OF  GOVERNMENT. — DISCONTENT  OF 
THE  SETTLERS.  —  INSURRECTION   IN   NORTH 
CAROLINA. — SOTHEL  DEPOSED  BY  THE  PEO- 
PLE.  —  CHARLESTON   FOUNDED. — CON- 
STITUTION OF  LOCKE  RELiNQUISHBD. 


The  first  attempt  of  the  English  to  found  a  settlement  in  America 
had  been  made  in  the  mild  regions  lying  south  of  Virginia.  The 
disastrous  failure  of  that  attempt  (Ilaleigli's),  combined  with  the  diffi- 
culty of  access  and  u  dread  of  Spanish  cruelty,  had  retarded  any 
further  eilurt  in  the  same  direction;  and  while  the  bleaker  and  less 
fertile  provinces  of  the  north  were  rapidly  filling  up  with  continued 
emigration,  no  enterprise  was  directed  to  the  rich  soil  and  genial 
climate  of  the  south.  Sir  Robert  Ileath,  in  1630,  indeed,  obtained 
of  Charles  I.  a  patent  f  )r  the  foundation  of  a  colony  there ;  but  this 
instrument,  from  his  failure  to  eflTect  a  settlement,  became  forfeited. 

Colonists  from  Virginia,  between  the  years  1640  and  1650,  suffer- 
ing from  religious  intolerance,  tck  refuge  beyond  the  bordei-s  of 
that  province,  and  formed  settlements  on  the  northern  shores  of 
Albemarle  Sound — since  known  as  North  Carolina.  By  the  fertility 
of  the  soil  and  the  mildness  of  the  winters,  they  soon  lived  in  ease, 
tlu'ir  ciiltlc  anil  swine  finding  subsistence  in  the  natural  {)roducts  of 
the  country;  and  their  numbers  were  yearly  increased  by  fre.sh 
emigration.  Some  a<]venturers  from  Ma.ssachusett.s,  in  1061,  uuide 
an  attempt  to  found  a  H;ttlement  near  Cape  Fear;  but  tlie  experi- 
ment provt  (1  unsuccessful.  Their  places  were,  however,  supplied 
by  a  party  ol  emigrants  from  Barbadoes,  who  proceeded  to  the  su'iie 


SETTLEMENT   OF  THE  OB0LINA8. 


165 


region,  and  planted  a  colony  there,  selecting  as  their  governor  Sir 
John  Yeomans,  one  of  their  number. 

Among  the  lavish  grants  which  distinguished  the  administration 
of  Charles  II.,  was  one,  in  1668,  to  the  Duke  of  Albemarle  (Gen 
Monk),  Lord  Ashley  Cooper  (afterwards  the  famous  Earl  of  Shaftes- 
bury), to  Berkely,  the  governor  of  Virginia,  and  others,  conveying 
to  them  all  Carolina,  from  the  thirty-sixth  degree  of  latitude  to  the 
river  San  Matheo.  The  patentees,  desirous  to  people  their  vast  ter- 
ritory, gave  much  encouragement  to  those  who  had  already  settled 
there,  assuring  them  of  considerable  political  privileges;  and  Berkely, 
bringing  additional  emigrants  from  Virginia  to  North  Carolina, 
settled  the-.n  under  the  popular  rule  of  Drummond. 

By  a  fresh  patent,  issued  in  1665,  the  proprietors,  their  claims 
extended  westward  across  the  entire  continent,  were  empowered  to 
create  titles  and  to  institute  orders  of  nobility.  This  singular  priv- 
ilege was  granted,  in  order  that  an  elaborate  constitution,  devised 
by  Shaftesbury  and  the  celebrated  Locke  might  be  carried  into 
effect.  By  this  extraordinary  instrument,  vhe  fruit,  doubtless,  of 
painful  ingenuity  and  labour,  a  system  of  government  was  set  up, 
entirely  without  a  precedent  in  the  history  of  legislation.  Its  main 
feature  was  a  hereditary  landed  aristocracy,  dependent  on  property 
alone  for  its  right  to  rule.  The  territory  was  divided  into  counties, 
of  four  hundred  and  eighty  thousand  acres  each,  in  each  of  which 
were  to  be  appointed  one  landgrave,  or  earl,  and  two  caciques,  or 
barons.  All  power  was  lodged  in  the  holders  of  real  estate,  and  the 
proprietors  were  always  to  continue  exactly  eight  in  number,  neither 
more  nor  less.  With  a  childisK  minuteness,  the  details  of  pedigree, 
of  fashion,  and  ceremony,  were  made  the  especial  province  of  one 
of  these  dignitaries.  Such  was  the  constitution,  carefully  elaborated 
by  the  most  philosoi)hical  mind  of  the  age,  which  yet,  from  the 
unfainiliarity  of  its  author  with  tlie  practical  workings  of  political 
machinery,  and  tlie  needs  of  a  new  country,  never  took  practical 
effect,  and  soon  lapsed  into  neglect  and  abrogation. 

The  colonists  r.t  Albemarle,  who  had  already  adopted  a  simple 
code  of  laws  for  their  own  government,  received  with  much  disgust 
the  aristocratic  and  complicated  system  which  the  proprietors  had 
devised;  and  the  latter,  not  to  increase  the  popular  discontent,  did 
not  press  the  immediate  adoption  of  all  its  particulars.  They  in- 
sisted, however,  on  establishini^  a  provisional  government,  but  with- 
out success;  for  the  people,  dissatisfied,  imprisoned  their  collector 


lirl 
'••III 

i 


liiJ 


l!l 


"Mi 


I 


I?, 


w. 


16G 


THE   l'EOrLE'8   BOOK   OF   HISTORY. 


and  other  officers,  seized  the  public  funds,  and  took  all  the  functions 
of  government  into  their  own  hands.  Their  chief  leader,  who  pro- 
ceeded to  England  to  defend  their  cause,  was  there  tried  for  treason, 
and  was  acquitted  only  by  the  eloquence  and  influence  of  Shaftes- 
bury, who  considered  the  insurrection  as  rather  a  dispute  among 
the  colonists  themselves  than  a  revolution  against  the  home  gov- 
ernment. 

The  better  to  carry  out  their  obnoxious  constitution,  the  proprie- 
tors next  sent  out  Seth  Sothel,  one  of  their  own  number,  as  gov- 
ernor. This  man,  corrupt  and  greedy,  for  six  years  mismanaged 
the  affairs  of  the  province,  enriching  himself  by  bribes  and  extortion. 
At  the  end  of  that  time  the  people  put  him  under  arrest,  and  the 
assembly  tried  him  and  banished  him  from  the  province.  The  pro- 
prietors, however  ill  pleased  at  the  independence  of  that  body, 
could  not  deny  the  justice  of  the  sentence.  They  approved  the 
measure,  and  appointed  Philip  Ludwell  as  his  suo:essor. 

In  1670,  they  dispatched  a  body  of  emigrants,  under  William 
Sayle,  to  Port  Royal,  in  South  Carolina.  In  the  following  year, 
dissatisfied  with  the  situation,  he  remoed  the  settlement  to  the 
neck  of  land  lying  between  the  livers  Ashley  and  Cooper,  where  he 
founded  a  settlement  named  Charleston,  in  honour  of  the  king,  and 
since  known  as  one  of  the  fairest  and  wealthiest  of  southern  cities. 
At  his  death,  which  occurred  not  long  after,  Sir  John  Yeomans, 
already,  for  some  years,  governor  at  Cape  Fear,  was  appointed  in 
his  place;  and  the  new  settlement  gradually  absorbed  into  itself  the 
colonists  from  that  region.  A  separate  government  thus  established 
over  the  two  colonies,  the  names  of  North  and  South  Carolina  came 
into  common  usage. 

Yeomans,  accused  of  converting  his  office  into  an  instrument  for 
his  own  profit,  was  replaced  by  West,  under  whose  popular  rule  the 
colony  continued  to  increase  and  prosper.  The  proprietors,  indeed, 
reaped  no  fruits  from  their  enterprise,  having  expended  large  sums 
without  getting  any  return,  Dutch  emigrants,  both  from  New  York 
and  the  mother-country,  attracted  by  the  mildness  of  the  climate 
and  the  political  freedom  enjoyed  by  the  settlers,  resorted  to  South 
Carolina;  and  the  oppression  of  the  French  Protestants,  under 
Louis  XIV.,  Aim  induced  numbers  of  the  persecuted  sect  to  take 
refuge  there. 

In  1686,  James  Colleton,  a  brother  of  one  of  the  proprietors,  was 
ap[)ointcd  governor,  with  the  title  of  landgrave.    Popular  discon- 


h<m 


SETTLEMENT   OF   THE  CAROLINAS. 


167 


tent,  especially  at  the  elaborate  and  aristocratic  dystem  devised  by 
Locke,  was  not  long  in  making  ita  demonstration;  and  the  new 
governor  was  soon  involved  in  disputes  with  the  colonists.  An 
assembly,  elected  expressly  to  resist  him,  met  in  1687;  and  three 
years  afterwards,  an  act  was  passed  for  his  banishment  from  the 
province.  The  English  revolution  of  1688  had  saved  the  proprie- 
tors from  a  seizure  of  their  charter  by  the  crown.  On  learning 
these  news,  they  sent  out  Ludwell  to  examine  the  affairs  of  Caro- 
lina, and  to  report  grievances.  Such  was  the  discontent  manifested 
toward  the  constitution,  that  it  was  thought  wisest  to  relinquish  it; 
and,  accordingly,  in  1693,  the  whole  cumbrous  system,  with  its 
child's-play  at  nobility,  and  its  attempt  to  create  institutions  which 
can  be  made  respectable  only  by  long  usage  and  national  association, 
was  entirely  abrogated  and  done  away.  •  /  ^ ;,  , 


m 


Wli 


A  ■■'•  it:;  I: 


vn 


>n    . 


"tti 


■  lit!      ,r 


M  :i(r 


VIRGINIA, 

CONTINUED. 


uJutArxjCiiti    x* 


I'  . 


•\ 


RBTROOllADE   MOVBMBNTS  IN    VIRGINIA.  —  RBTIVAL  OP  INTOL- 
ERANCE  AND   OPPRESSION. GRANT   OP   VIRGINIA   TO   CUL- 
PEPPER    AND     ARMNOTON. POPULAR     DISCONTENT. — 

INDIAN    WAR. MURDER   OP   THE   CHIEPS. INSURREC- 
TION    UNDER    BACON.  —  TRIUMPH    OP    THE    PEOPLE. 

The  unfavourable  effect  of  the  Restoration  on  Virginia  has  beeu 
mentioned.  The  renewal  and  enforcement  of  the  Navigation  Act 
fettered  her  rapidly  increasing  commerce,  and  the  triumph  of  roy- 
alty at  home  was  followed  by  that  of  tyranny  and  intolerance  in 
the  provincial  government.  The  great  number  of  servants,  or 
slaves,  in  effect,  for  a  term  of  years,  who  had  been  brought  from 
England,  even  after  their  emancipation,  constituted  an  inferior  and 
uneducated  class,  easily  kept  down  by  an  aristocracy  of  masters  and 
slaveholders,  whose  power  in  the  state  was  continually  on  the 
increase.  There  seems  to  have  been  even  a  systematic  desire  among 
the  government  party  to  keep  a  portion  <^>f  the  colonists  in  depend- 
ent ignorance.  Berkeley  thanks  God  that  free-.schools  or  j)rinting 
presses  were  unknown  in  Virginia,  and  .says  he  ht>pes  there  will  be 
noue  this  hundred  years;  "for  learning,"  he  sagely  remarks,  "has 
brought  disobedience,  and  heresy,  and  sects  into  the  world,  and 
printing  hatl  divulged  them,'"  &c.  Negro  slavery,  by  this  time 
considerably  c^r  'he  increa.se.  was  abs<ilute,  the  control  of  the  master 
being  almost  ui  ^ottered  by  any  la.w  (;f  restraint. 

The  Kpiscopal  church  was  established  as  the  religion  of  the  state; 
and  |)orsecution  of  di.ssenters,  especially  of  Baptists  and  Quakers, 
was  n-vived.  The  a.ssembly  t*^:"  burgesses  appropriated  extortiduuto 
sums  for  their  own  pay,  a.>j  legislators,  and,  by  refusing,  for  .many 
years,  to  dissolve,  set  up  a  species  of  jav^riptive  government,  Hltlc 


VIRGINIA. 


169 


fthort  of  octr.al  usurpation.  The  fruit  of  the  royal  triumph,  in  the 
domestic  economy  of  Virginia,  was,  in  short,  as  accurately  summed 
up  by  an  elegant  historian—""  political  revolution,  opposed  to  the 
principles  of  popular  libe'.i.y  and  the  progress  of  humanity.  An 
assembly  contin''Hg  for  au  indefinite  period  at  the  pleasure  of  the 
governor,  and  ci.  <\'eeing  to  its  members  extravagant  and  burden- 
some emoluments;  a  royal  governor,  whose  salary  was  established 
by  a  permanent  system  of  taxation ;  a  constituency  restricted  and 
diminished;  religious  liberty  taken  away  almost  as  soon  as  it  had 
been  won;  arbitrary  taxation  in  the  counties  by  irresponsible 
magistrates;  a  hostility  to  popular  education  and  to  the  press; — 
these  were  the  changes  which,  in  about  ten  years,  were  effected  in  a 
province  that  had  begun  to  enjoy  the  benefits  of  a  virtual  independ- 
ence and  a  gradually  ameliorating  legislation." 

Fresh  misfortune  awaited  the  colony  in  the  rash  liberality  of 
Charles,  who,  in  1673,  bestowed  on  Lord  Culpepper  and  the  Earl 
of  Arlington,  (the  latter  connected  with  him  by  a  discreditable 
tie,)  the  entire  control  of  Virginia  for  a  term  of  thirty-one  years. 
The  as-sembly,  on  learning  the  news,  fearing  for  the  safety  of  their 
estates,  dispatched  agents  to  remonstrate  with  the  crown,  and  to 
endeavour  to  obtain  a  charter  for  the  colonial  government;  but  their 
efforts,  after  a  year's  trial,  proved  ineffectual. 

The  oppression  to  which  the  people  of  Virginia,  after  the  restora- 
tion of  loyal  and  aristocratic  power,  were  subjected,  at  last  drove 
them  into  open  resistance.  Discontented  gatherirga  and  a  tendency 
to  revolt  had  prevailed  for  some  time;  and,  considering  that  the 
outrageous  taxes  levied  by  their  rulers  swallowed  up  neaJy  all  their 
earnings  and  profits,  it  is  remaiKDble  how  long  they  endured  the 
usurpation  of  the  authorities.  An  .'  -dian  war  was  the  first  cause  of 
insurrection.  Hostilities  were  cwried  on  with  the  Susquehannahs 
and  other  tribes,  both  in  Virginia  and  Maryland,  and  on  one  occa- 
sion, six  chiefs,  presenting  themselves  to  treat  of  peace,  were  mur- 
dorcl  by  the  enraged  settlers.  Berkeley,  irascible,  cruel,  and  tyran- 
nical, was  not  without  feelings  o''  honor.  On  hearing  of  the  crime, 
he  exclaimed,  "If  they  had  killed  my  father,  and  my  mother,  and 
all  my  friends,  yet  if  they  had  come  to  treat  of  peace,  they  ought  to 
have  gone  in  peace." 

The  savages,  their  passions  inflamed  to  madness  at  this  piece  of 
cruelty  and  ill  faith,  renewed  hos.J'ties  with  much  fury,  attacking 
the  English  plantations  in  Virginia,  and  wreaking  a  tenfold  revengo 


\\\  m: 


i.''">i 


170 


THE   rEOI'LE'8    BOOK   OF   HISTORY. 


for  the  loss  of  their  chiefs.  The  movement  spread,  and  the  })Oople-- 
their  lives,  by  the  insufficiency  of  the  government,  constantly  ex- 
posed— dotn  .lid id  the  permission  to  carry  on  the  war  themselves. 
But  Berkeley,  ever  despising  the  popular  opinio'  md  his  interest,  it 
is  said,  being  enlisted  in  behalf  of  peace  by  <  Tiionopoly  of  the 
beaver-trade,  which  he  held,  stubbornly  refused  his  consent.  A 
general  insurrection  was  the  result  Under  Nathaniel  Bacon,  an 
English  planter,  of  wealth  and  influence,  of  high  courage  and  inde- 
pendence, five  hundred  men  assembled  in  arms,  resolved  on  a  cam- 
paign against  the  enemy.  Berkeley,  enraged,  proclaimed  them 
rebels,  and  was  levying  forces  to  suppress  the  movement,  when  a 
fresh  and  formidable  insurrection  of  the  people,  who  demanded  the 
immediate  dissolution  of  the  assembly,  compelled  him  to  desist,  and 
return  to  Jamestown.  With  almost  the  entire  force  of  the  people 
arrayed  against  them,  the  governor  and  the  aristocracy  were  com- 
pelled to  yield.  The  assembly,  which  had  so  long  sat  an  incubus 
on  the  province,  was  dissolved,  and  on  the  election  of  a  new  one, 
Bacon  (successful  in  his  Indian  campaign)  and  a  majority  of  hij 
partisans  were  returned  as  members.  The  successful  leader  ac- 
knowledged his  error  in  acting  without  a  commission,  and,  to  the 
universal  joy  of  the  people,  was  appointed  commander-in-chief. 


vjXli/iJLxJaXi     Jtx* 


THE   POPULAR   ASSBMBI.T. — MEASURES  OF  REFORM. — OPPOSITION 
AND  TREACHERY  OF  BERKELEY. — CIVIL  WAR. — TRIUMPH  OF 
THE   INSURGENTS.  —  JAMESTOWN    BURNED.  —  DE.\TH   OF   BA- 
CON:   HIS  CHARACTER.  —  RUIN  OF  THE  POPULAR  CAUSE. 
— NUMEROUS   EXECUTIONS.  —  DEATH   OF   BERKELEY. 
— ADMINISTRATION    OF    CULPEPPER,     ETC. 


The  new  assembly,  with  a  rational  and  moderate  zeal  for  reform, 
proceeded  to  pass  many  salutary  acts,  restricting  the  magistrates  in 
their  arbitrary  and  extortionate  course,  providing  for  the  purity  of 
elections,  curtailing  exorbitant  fees  and  salaries,  taking  precautions 
against  the  spread  of  intemperance,  and  finally,  by  a  general  am- 
nesty, extinguishing,  it  was  ho[)ed,  the  seeds  of  civil  conflagration, 


VIBOINIA. 


171 


rsonsof  the  colony  at  Wil- 
..j  maintain  the  Indian  war, 


The  demeanour  of  the  governor  was  dubious,  an'1  Bacon,  leaving 
Jamestown,  presently  returned,  ui  the  head  of  five  /lundred  deter- 
mined men,  in  whose  j)re8once  resistance  was  in  vain.  Berkeley 
advanced  to  meet  them,  and,  baring  hi.  breast,  exclaimed,  "A  fair 
mark — shooti"  but  Bacon  toM  him  tliat  not  a  hair  of  his  head  or  any 
man's  should  be  hurt;  and  the  pasaioiiate  oM  governor,  yielding  to 
necesHity,  issued  the  required  comrr)i«sion  t  war  against  the  In- 
dians, and,  with  the  council  and  as^i ,  ibly,  even  dispatched  to  Eng- 
land high  commenilationH  nf  the  l.)yalt^  and  patriotism  of  his  rival. 

IIow  insincere  were  his  i     ait  is  evi     nt  from  the  fact  that, 

just  as  the  province  wa,-    i<'gn.iu  ddcuce,  and   Bacon   com- 

mencing a  campaign  against  t    •  <  :e  repaired  to  Gloucester 

county,  and  again  proclaimc  'ait         The  latter,  in  turn, 

summoned  a  convention  of  the  j  .m 
liamsburgh,  when  all  present  took 
and,  if  ncces.sary,  to  support  their  leaiier  against  the  governor  him- 
self. The  latter  was  endeavouring  to  levy  an  army  on  the  eastern 
shore  of  the  Chesapeake,  and,  on  the  advice  of  Drummond,  who  had 
been  governor  of  North  Carolina,  the  governor's  term  having  ex- 
pired, his  retreat  was  held  as  an  abdication,  and  a  convention  of  the 
people  was  summoned  for  the  settlement  of  the  government.  By 
the  promise  of  plunder,  and  of  freedom  to  the  servants  of  his  oppo- 
nents, Berkeley  gathered,  in  Accomack,  a  large  force,  of  the  baser 
sort,  with  which,  transported  in  filleen  vessels,  he  sailed  for  James- 
town. Landing,  he  fell  on  his  knees,  returning  thanks  to  God,  and 
forthwith  again  proclaimed  Bacon  and  his  followers  traitors. 

The  latter,  after  having  made  a  successful  expedition  against  the 
Indians,  had  disbanded  his  troops;  but,  on  learning  these  tidings, 
with  a  small,  but  trusty  body  of  fullowers,  at  once  marched  upon 
the  capital.  The  ignoble  forces  of  the  governor  showed  more  dis- 
position for  plunder  than  fighfing;  and  he  was  compelled  to  evacu- 
ate Jamestown  by  night,  and  take  rtfiige,  with  his  people,  aboard 
the  fleet.  Bacon  entered  the  di'.«erte(l  town  the  next  day,  and,  as  it 
was  doubtful  how  long  he  could  retain  possession,  it  was  resolved 
t<i  burn  it.  This  was  aceordingly  done,  some  of  his  chief  adherents 
firing  their  own  houses,  and  the  little  capital,  for  seventy  years  the 
chief,  nay,  almost  the  only  town  in  Virginia,  was  laid  in  ashes.  The 
halfruined  church,  still  standing,  is  all  that  attests  to  the  passing 
V03'ager  the  former  existence  of  the  earliest  of  American  settlements. 

After  further  and  signal  successes,  the  career  of  the  insurgents 


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33  WEST  MAIN  STREET 

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172 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HI8T0BT. 


was  brought  to  a  sudden  end  by  the  untimely  death  of  their  gallant 
leader,  who,  on  the  1st  of  October,  1676,  perished  of  a  disease  con- 
tracted by  exposure  to  the  damp  nights  of  that  unhealthy  region. 
His  memory,  if  tarnished  by  some  errors,  will  always  be  held  in 
high  respect,  as  that  of  the  first  leader  in  the  cause  of  American 
independence.  He  was,  it  seems,  brave  in  the  field,  eloquent  in 
council,  magnanimous,  honourable.  The  liberal  and  moderate  legis- 
lation of  the  party  which  he  headed  bears  witness  to  his  talent  for 
government  The  enthusiastic  afiection  of  his  friends  and  followers 
evinces  his  amiable  nature.  That  he  was  forced  into  insurrection 
and  continued  civil  warfare  was,  doubtless,  the  fruit  of  the  tyranny 
of  the  ascendant  faction,  and  the  ill  faith  of  the  arbitrary  governor 
at  its  head. 

With  Bacon  expired  the  hope  and  success  of  the  revolutionary 
party.  Without  a  leader  of  talent  or  influence  sufficient  to  combine 
them,  the  isolated  and  disorganized  sections  of  that  party  were,  in 
turn,  defeated,  and  severally  suppressed  by  the  loyalists.  Berkeley 
was  restored  to  power,  and,  by  frequent  and  merciless  executions, 
evinced  the  natural  cruelty  of  his  disposition,  and  the  tyrannical 
sentiment  of  the  cause  which  he  headed.  Drummond,  and  more 
than  twenty  others,  were  hanged;  and  nothing  but  a  remonstrance 
from  the  assembly  fi^nally  availed  to  stay  the  hana  of  the  execu- 
tioner. Charles  II.  learned  with  much  indignation  of  the  sanguinary 
proceedings  of  his  governor,  and  said  that  the  old  fool  had  taken 
more  lives  in  the  wilderness  of  Virginia  than  himself  had  for  the 
murder  of  his  father.  In  a  proclamation,  he  severely  censured  these 
atrocities,  and  when  Berkeley,  not  long  after,  returned  to  England, 
publio  opinion  condemned  him  with  equal  severity.  His  death, 
which  took  place  soon  after  his  arrival,  was  probably  hastened  by  a 
sense  of  the  condemnation  of  the  sovereign  and  the  people. 

As  usual  on  the  suppression  of  any  popular  movement,  the  futile 
insurrection  in  Virginia  only  entailed  fresh  evils  on  the  country, 
being  made  the  pretext  for  refusing  it  a  charter,  and  continuing  its 
dependence  on  the  crown.  All  the  late  acts  of  the  reformed  assem- 
bly were  repealed,  and  all  the  ancient  grie  ances  and  oppressions 
were  reinstated.  No  printing  was  allowed,  and  freedom  of  speech 
was  curtailed  by  grievous  penalties.  Excessive  and  arbitrary  taxes 
were  levied  by  the  authorities,  and  the  condition  of  the  people, 
especially  the  poorer  classes,  was  again  that  of  subjection  and 
oppression. 


VIBaiNIA. 


178 


Not  long  after  the  departure  of  Berkeley,  Lord  Culpepper,  one  of 
the  two  patentees  of  Virginia,  a  man  of  grasping  and  avaricious 
nature,  obtained  from  the  crown  an  appointment  as  governor  of 
that  province  fbr  life.  He  arrived  in  1680,  desirous  of  nothing  but 
of  turning  his  office  to  profitable  account  His  salary  was  doubled, 
and,  to  the  great  grief  of  the  planters,  he  had  a  law  passed  for  levy- 
ing a  perpetual  export  duty  of  two  shillings  on  every  hogshead  of 
tobacco.  After  remaining  in  Virginia  but  a  few  months,  just  long 
enough  to  look  out  for  his  pecuniary  interests,  he  took  his  departure 
for  England.  The  misery  of  the  province,  consequent  on  its  late 
disturbed  condition,  on  the  restriction  of  commerce,  and  the  low 
price  of  its  staple  product,  tobacco,  produced  disorder.  Biot  and 
insubordination  prevailed,  and  were  suppressed  by  executions.  Cul- 
pepper returned  for  a  few  months  to  reap  all  possible  advantages 
from  his  patent,  at  the  expense  of  the  suffering  colonists. 

In  1684,  the  obnoxious  grant  was  annulled,  and  the  government 
of  Virginia  was  resumed  by  the  crown.  Effingham,  the  first  royal 
governor,  used  his  office  only  as  a  means  of  procuring  petty  emolu- 
ments, and  thus  rendered  himself  contemptible  in  the  eyes  of  the 
people.  The  accession  of  James  II.,  in  the  following  year,  and  the 
ill-fated  rebellion  of  Monmouth,  increased  the  population  of  Vir- 
ginia, by  a  number  of  convicts,  who,  on  the  suppression  of  that 
movement,  were  bestowed  by  the  king  on  his  favourites,  and  by 
them,  with  shameless  venality,  were  sold  into  slavery  in  America. 
Under  the  arbitrary  rule  of  the  new  sovereign,  scarcely  a  shadow 
of  self-government  was  allowed  to  the  people  of  Virginia.  A  feel- 
ing of  resistance  being  manifested  in  the  assembly,  that  body  was 
dissolved;  but  the  people,  a  spirit  of  liberty  rgawakened,  assumed 
an  attitude  so  insurrectionary,  that  the  governor,  destitute  of  a 
force  adequate  to  suppress  it,  was  compelled  to  temporize,  and  to 
forego  any  attempts  at  renewed  oppression. 


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h'i. 


THE  SETTLEMENT  OF  DELAWARE. 

THE  FIRST  DUTCH  COLOKfT  IN  DELAWARE:  ITS  DESTRUCTION. 

— SWEDES  AND  FINNS  UNDER  MINUIT.  —  CONQUEST  OF  THE 
n,  SWEDISH  SETTLEMENTS  BT  THE  DUTCH,  UNDER  8TUI- 
u.j.      TESANT. — DELAWARE  UNDER  THE  DUKE  OF  TOBK: 
,,,  UNDER  PENN. — DISPUTES  WITH  HARTLAND  CON- 

,„'j     ,.       CERNINO   BOUNDARIES. — SEPARATION    OF 
,,,<./,;,,■,       DELAWARE    FROM     PENNSTLYANIA.      u  m 

The  disastrous  attempt  of  the  Dutch,  under  De  Yriez,  in  1681,  to 
found  a  settlement  in  Delaware,  has  been  described.  ("Dutch  ii 
America.")  The  unfortunate  little  colony  left  by  that  navigator 
near  the  site  of  Lewistown,  numbering  only  thirty-four  souls,  was 
cut  off  by  the  Indians  to  avenge  the  death  of  a  chief,  whose  life  had 
been  sacrificed  to  the  implacable  sulkiness  of  the  governor,  Gillis 
Osset  De  Vriez,  returning  from  Holland  the  next  year,  found  no 
relics  of  the  settlement,  except  the  bones  of  his  countrymen,  which 
lay  bleaching  on  the  shore. 

The  next  enterprise  in  the  samo  direction  was  that  of  a  small  body 
of  Swedes  and  Finns,  who,  in  1688,  under  Minuit  9  time  gov- 
ernor of  the  Dutch  at  Manhattan,  and  afterwards  "  3  service  of 
Christina  of  Sweden,)  landed  near  Cape  Ilenlopen,  purchased  land 
of  the  natives,  and  built  a  fort  not  far  from  the  present  site  of  Wil; 
mington.  Attracted  by  tidings  of  the  mildness  and  fertility  of  New 
Sweden,  for  so  the  country  was  called,  Swedish  and  Finnish  emi- 
grants hastened  in  numbers  to  the  province.  A  new  fort  was  built 
on  an  island  below  Philadelphia.  The  claims  of  the  Dutch  were 
resisted,  and  English  adverturers  were  not  allowed  to  settle.  The 
building  of  Fort  Casimir,  by  the  former  people,  and  its  treacherous 
seizure  by  Risingh,  the  Swedi.sh  governor,  have  been  described  in 
their  appropriate  place,  as  well  as  the  conquest  of  New  Sweden  by 
Peter  Stuyvesant,  the  doughty  governor  of  the  New  Netherlands. 
The  Dutch  company,  stimulated  by  aggression,  and  fearing  little 
from  the  distracted  and  feebly-governed  kingdom  of  Sweden,  had 


THE   SETTLEMENT   OK   DELAWABE. 


175 


ordered  their  officer,  "  to  revenge  their  wrong,  to  drive  the  Swedes 
from  the  river,  or  compel  their  submission."  Accordingly,  in  Sep- 
tember, 1655,  with  a  force  of  six  hundred  men,  Stuyvesant  sailed 
up  the  Delaware,  on  an  avowed  errand  of  conquest.  Before  a  force, 
comparatively  so  formidable,  the  feeble  colonies  of  Sweden,  after  a 
national  existence  of  only  seventeen  years,  were  speedily  compelled 
to  succumb.  The  forta  were  reduced ;  a  portion  of  the  Swedes  were 
sent  to  Europe,  and  the  remainder,  on  taking  the  oath  of  allegiance, 
were  suffered  to  remain.  Many  of  their  descendants  are  still  living 
in  Delaware. 

On  the  conquest  of  the  New  Netherlands  by  the  English,  in  1664, 
the  Dutch  and  Swedish  settlements  of  Delaware  came  under  the 
authority  of  the  Duke  of  York.  Disputes  respecting  boundaries 
soon  arose.  Lord  Baltimore,  the  proprietor  of  Maryland,  had 
claimed  all  the  region  on  the  west  side  of  the  Delaware  as  included 
in  his  grunt;  and  incursions  had  been  made  from  that  province  for 
the  purpose  of  repelling  settlers  from  the  disputed  territory.  Wil- 
liam Penn,  the  grant  of  Pennsylvania  obtained,  desirous  of  extend- 
ing his  coast  line,  (it  was  "more  for  love  of  the  water,"  he  said,  "than 
of  the  land,")  procured  from  the  duke  a  cession  of  all  the  land  for 
twelve  miles  around  Newcastle,  and  all  lying  between  that  and  the 
sea.  On  his  arrival  in  America,  (1682,)  solemn  possession  of  the 
territory  was  given  to  him  by  the  duke's  agent,  at  that  town,  and 
Penn  addressed  a  multitude  of  his  new  subjects — Swedes,  Dutch,  and 
English — who  had  assembled  to  witness  the  ceremony,  promising  to 
all  freedom,  both  civil  and  religious,  and  recommending  virtue, 
religion,  and  sobriety  of  life. 

The  claim  of  Baltimore,  still  asserted,  was  for  some  time  the  sub- 
ject of  negotiation — the  two  proprietors  at  first  exhibiting  a  polite, 
and  afterwards  a  rather  acrimonious  pertinacity  in  maintaining  their 
respective  pretensions;  but,  in  1685,  it  was  decided  invalid  by  the 
Lords  of  Trade  and  the  Plantations;  and  the  boundary  of  the  rival 
patentees  was  fixed  by  a  pacific  agreement.  The  three  counties 
which  Penn  called  his  "Territories,"  and  which  now  constitute  the 
state  of  Delaware,  for  twenty  years  sent  their  delegates  to  the  gen- 
eral assembly  of  Pennsylvania;  but,  in  1703,  dissatisfied  with  the 
action  of  that  body,  procured  permission  to  act  by  a  legislature  of 
their  own;  the  proprietor,  however,  retaining  his  claims,  and  the 
same  governor  exercising  executive  functions  over  both  Pennsyl- 
vania and  Delaware. 
Vol.  IV.— 40 


\         '  '■  '  '  '     , 

THE  SETTLEMENT  OE  NEW  JERSEY. 

I       '    y  - 
v'         '"     ■  ' 

CONQUEST  BY  THE  ENGLISH. — NICHOLS,   BERKELEY,  AND  CAR- 
TERET.— EMIGRATION   FROM   NEW   ENGLAND. — SALE  OP  WEST 
NEW  JERSEY   TO  THE  QUAKERS. — PKNWICK,   BYLLINGE, 
AND   PKNN. — QUAKER   SETTLEMENTS.  —  REMARKABLY 
FREE  CONSTITUTION. — FRIENDLY  DEALINGS  WITH 
THE     INDIANS. — USURPATION    OF     ANDROS:     ITS 
DEFEAT.  —  EAST  NEW  JERSEY. 


After  the  conquest  of  the  New  Netherlands  by  the  English,  in 
1664,  Nichols,  the  first  governor,  encouraged  the  emigration  of  his 
countrymen  from  the  adjoining  settlements  of  Nev«r  England  and 
Long  Island  into  the  regions  south  of  Manhattan ;  and  settlements 
were  made  at  Elizabethtown,  Newark,  and  other  localities.  The 
Duke  of  York,  the  patentee  of  the  whole  country,  in  the  very  year 
of  the  conquest,  assigned  to  Lord  Berkeley  and  Sir  George  Carteret 
the  territories  lying  between  the  Hudson  and  the  Delaware.  In 
compliment  to  the  latter,  who,  during  the  civil  contests  in  England, 
had  held  the  island  of  Jersey  for  the  royal  party,  the  country 
received  its  present  name. 

Philip  Carteret,  appointed  governor  by  the  new  proprietors,  c^me 
over  the  next  year,  and  selected  Elizabethtown  as  the  capital  of  the 
province.  By  offering  favourable  terms,  he  induced  many  to  emi- 
grate thither  from  New  England,  and  the  population  of  the  colony 
continued  to  increase.  A  question  concerning  the  titles  issued  by 
Nichols,  combined  with  other  causes  of  discontent,  in  1672,  excited 
a  popular  movement  against  the  governor,  which,  however,  was 
finally  quieted  by  concessions  from  the  proprietors. 

Berkeley,  disappointed  in  his  expectation  of  profitable  returns,  in 
1674,  for  the  inconsiderable  sum  of  a  thousand  pounds,  sold  his 
share  of  New  Jersey  to  the  Quakers,  who  were  eager  for  an  oppor- 
tunity to  purchase  in  the  New  World  a  refuge  for  their  proscribed 


THE  SETTLEMENT  OF  NEW  JERSEY. 


177 


faith  and  persons.  The  assignment  was  made  to  John  Fenwick  in 
trust  for  Edward  Byllinge,  whose  affairs  were  embarrassed.  A  dis- 
pute between  these  two  was  settled  by  the  intervention  of  William 
Penn;  and,  in  1675,  the  former,  with  a  large  company  of  Friends, 
sailed  for  the  Delaware.  At  a  place  which  he  called  Salem,  near 
Elsingburg,  he  established  a  settlement,  and,  by  Agreement  with  Sir 
George  Carteret,  the  western  portion  of  the  province — thenceforward 
called  West  New  Jersey — was  set  off  and  separated  as  the  share  of 
the  new  proprietors.  Penn  and  two  others,  being  made  the  assigns 
of  Byllinge,  as  trustees  for  his  creditors,  divided  the  country  into 
one  hundred  shares,  which  they  set  up  for  sale.  All  the  purchasers 
made  vigorous  efforts  to  promote  the  growth  of  the  province ;  and, 
in  1677,  a  large  number  of  emigrants,  mostly  Quakers,  came  over 
and  settled  in  and  around  Burlington. 

The  constitution,  which,  under  the  benevolent  auspices  of  Quaker- 
ism, was  adopted  the  same  year,  was  of  a  nature  extraordinarily 
liberal  and  democratic,  considering  the  age.  Perfect  freedohi  of 
conscience  and  religion;  universal  suffrage  by  ballot;  universal 
eligibility  to  office;  strict  accountability  of  representatives  to  their 
constituents;  direct  election  of  justices,  &c.,  by  the  people;  extraor- 
dinary privileges  of  jury ;  non-imprisonment  for  debt,  and  prohibi- 
tion of  slavery;  such  were  the  grand  principles  on  which  rested 
the  earliest  legislation  of  the  Friends  in  the  Old  or  the  New  World. 
Lands  were  purchased  of  the  Indians,  whose  rights  were  especially 
protected  by  law,  and  the  chiefs,  gathered  in  council  at  Burlington, 
pledged  a  perpetual  league  and  friendship  with  the  peaceful  coiners. 
"You  are  our  brothers,"  they  said,  "and  we  will  live  like  brothers 
with  you.  We  will  have  a  broad  path  for  you  and  us  to  walk  in. 
If  an  Englishman  falls  asleep  in  this  path,  the  Indian  shall  pass  him 
by,  and  say,  *  He  is  an  Englishman ;  he  is  asleep ;  let  him  alone.' 
The  path  shall  be  plain ;  there  shall  not  be  in  it  a  stump  to  hurt 
the  feet" 

The  tranquillity  of  this  happy  province  was  first  disturbed  by  the 
violent  interference  of  Andros,  the  governor  of  the  Duke  of  York, 
who  forcibly  exacted  customs  of  ships  trading  to  the  new  colony, 
levied  taxes  on  the  inhabitants,  and  carried  matters  with  a  high 
hand  when  resisted.  On  the  remonstrance  of  the  people,  most  forci- 
bly and  eloquently  set  forth,  the  duke  consented  to  refer  the  matter 
of  jurisdiction  to  an  impartial  commission.  By  this  the  claims  of 
his  governor  were  pronounced  illegal,  and  the  liberties  of  New 


178 


TBI  PKOFLX'8  BOOK  OF  BIBTOBT. 


Jersey  were  fully  confirmed.  An  attempt  of  Byllinge,  as  propri 
etor,  to  assume  undue  rights,  was  resisted  with  equal  success,  and 
the  Quakers,  by  advice  of  Penn,  amending  their  constitution,  elected 
a  governor  for  themselves. 

In  1682,  East  New  Jersey  was  purchased  by  Penn  and  a  number 
of  others,  from  the  heirs  of  Carteret.  Bobert  Barclay,  conspicuous 
for  his  defence  of'  the  Quakers,  was  appointed  governor,  and  strong 
inducements  to  emigration  were  held  forth.  The  cruelties  enacted 
at  this  time  against  the  Presbyterians  of  Scotland,  caused  numbers 
of  that  persecuted  people  to  avail  themselves  of  the  opportunity  for 
a  refuge  across  the  Atlantic.  Their  coming  contributed  materially 
to  the  well-being  of  the  country — industry,  endurance,  and  piety, 
being  distinguishing  traits  in  their  character;  and  the  two  Jerseys, 
not  many  years  afterwards  reunited  under  a  single  government, 
owed  much  of  their  prosperity  to  the  elements  of  virtue  in  the  pe^ 
seouted  sects  by  which  they  were  peopled. 


■■  ■:    i  "'.il    ,'l    i''.  1    ■'    .'•..'■•■fi'v     :,■  fi      't      il 


; .    ;  :  1 


(  ) 


THE  SETTLEMENT  OF  PENNSYLVANIA. 


•.'r'>rt  »■(  •■    -I'l'  tj 


LJkiiArxEH    I. 


WILIIAII  P.ENN:  HIS  YOUTH:  HB  TORNS  O0AIBE:  18  BXPBLIBD 

FROM  COLLEOB  AND  HOHB:   IMPRI80HB0  FOR  HIS  OPIITIONS: 

8BTBRITT  OF  HIS  FATHBR:  FRB8H  IHPRI80NXENT:  EZKR- 

TIONS  IN  BEHALF  OF  HIS  SECT:  HB  BN0A0B8  IN  THB 
..   ,  .!■  .      u         SBTTLBHENT  OF  NEW  JERSBI.         '    y.         -!    .  • 


William  Fei^'N,  son  of  the  distinguished  admiral  of  the  same 
name,  was  born  at  London  on  the  14th  of  October,  1644.  At  the 
early  age  of  fifteen,  he  was  placed  at  the  University  of  Oxford, 
where,  being  of  a  temperament  naturally  religious  and  enthusiastic, 
he  became  deeply  impressed  by  the  teachings  of  Loe,  a  prominent 
member  of  the  then  almost  universally  persecuted  sect  of  Quakers. 
For  implication  with  this  obnoxious  community,  and  for  resistance 
to  the  college  authorities,  (it  has  even  been  said  that  Penn  and  his 
friends  tore  the  surplices  of  the  students  over  their  heads,  when  an 
order  for  the  wearing  of  those  garments  had  been  issued,)  he  and 
several  of  his  associates  were  expelled.  His  father,  a  mi  1-^yal, 
choleric,  and  prejudiced,  unable  to  reclaim  him  by  persuasicn  or 
argument  from  his  eccentric  views,  turned  him  out  of  doors;  but, 
afterwards,  a  partial  reconciliation  being  effected,  supplied  him  with 
the  means  for  foreign  travel,  hoping,  probably,  that  change  of  scene 
and  adventure  might  dissipate  his  fantastic  notions.  Turning  aside 
from  his  journey,  the  youth  engaged  in  the  study  of  theology  at 
Saumur;  whence  he  returned  to  England,  and  commenced  that  of 
the  law  at  Lincoln's  Inn.  Distinguished  by  purity  of  life  rather 
than  by  asceticism  of  manners,  he  made  a  figure  corresponding  with 
his  social  position;  was  esteemed  a  young  gentleman  of  fashion, 
skilled  in  courtly  and  even  martial  accomplishments. 

On  coming  of  age,  he  was  dispatched  by  his  father  to  L*eland,  to 


180 


TU£  TEOPLE'S   BOOK   Or   HISTORY. 


tuke  charge  of  his  estates  there,  and  falling  in  with  his  Quaker 
friend,  Loe,  at  a  meeting  in  Cork,  all  his  old  impressions  readily 
revived.  Imprisoned  for  attending  the  proscribed  assemblies,  but 
finally  released  through  the  favour  of  the  lord-lieutenant,  he  returned 
home,  where  his  father,  grieved  to  the  soul,  used  every  exertion  to 
change  his  persuasion.  The  old  admiral,  who  now  probably  began 
to  respect  the  stuff  his  son  was  made  of,  at  last  even  offered  to  com- 
promise matters  so  far  as  to  agree  that  William  might  wear  his  hat 
any  where  except  in  presence  of  himself,  of  the  king,  and  the  king's 
brother — but  even  these  easy  terms  of  capitulation  were  refused,  and 
he  was  again  driven  from  the  paternal  roof 

He  now  became  openly  a  preacher  of  the  persecuted  sect,  which 
he  defended  in  several  publications — an  offence  for  which  he  was 
committed  to  the  Tower,  and  kept  close  prisoner  for  some  months. 
In  this,  as  well  as  his  other  difficulties,  his  judges  seem  to  have  been 
entirely  at  a  loss  for  the  motives  which  could  induce  a  youth  of 
fortune  and  family  to  connecx  himself  with  a  cause  so  ignominious 
from  the  poverty,  and  so  dangerous  from  the  persecution  which 
attended  it  Discharged  from  prison,  he  returned  to  Ireland,  where 
he  busied  himself  in  comforting  his  imprisoned  brethren,  and  in 
procuring^  their  release.  lie  was  again  committed  for  public  preach- 
ing, his  trial  creating  no  little  excitement;  but  his  father  paid  the 
fine  which  the  young  Quaker,  from  motives  of  principle,  had  refused 
to  settle,  and  thus  procured  his  discharge.  A  complete  reconcilia- 
tion took  place,  the  brave  and  magnanimous  old  seaman  finally 
appreciating  the  traits  of  courage,  of  honour,  and  of  independence 
which  his  son  inherited,  though  displayed  in  p  field  of  action  so  dif- 
ferent from  his  own.  "Son  William,"  he  ^id  on  his  death-l)ed,  "if 
you  ond  your  friends  keep  to  your  plain  way  of  living  and  preach- 
ing, you  will  make  an  end  of  the  priests." 

By  the  death  of  his  father,  Penn  came  into  possession  of  an  estate 
of  fifteen  hundred  pounds  a  year,  and,  in  1672,  was  married  to  a 
woman  in  every  way  worthy  of  him — one  distinguished  by  beauty, 
intelligence,  principle,  and  sweetness  of  temper.  lie  continued  to 
preach  and  to  write  in  behalf  of  the  oppressed  sect  whose  cause  he 
had  espoused;  and  the  productions  of  his  pen,  characterized  by 
nimplicity,  eloquence,  and  sound  argument,  laid  a  strong  hold  on 
puUic  sentiment. 

Ills  first  action  in  regard  to  settlements  in  the  New  World,  was 
in  1676,  when,  having  served  as  arbitrator  between  Byllinge  and 


THE   SETTLEMENT    OF    I'  K  N  N  b  Y  L  V  A  N  I  A . 


181 


Fcnwick,  he  became  one  of  the  trustees  of  the  former  proprietor  in 
Western  New  Jersey.  He  drew  up  a  plan  of  government  for  that 
province.  Religious  toleration,  trial  by  jury,  and  non-imprisonment 
ibr  debt,  were  its  main  constitutional  features.  In  the  following 
year,  large  numbers  of  Quakers  resorted  there  from  England,  and 
the  province  soon  became  a  favourite  refuge  for  that  oppressed  peo- 
ple. Penn,  whose  efforts  were  still  unwearied  in  behalf  of  his  suf- 
fering brethren,  continued,  with  all  his  energy,  to  defend  their 
cause  at  home,  and  to  aid  them  in  their  einigration  to  the  land  of 
freedom  and  toleration. 


i', 


III 


CXIADT'C'D     TT 
Zi,  Jii,  i    d,   ij  D,     XX. 


PENN  OBTAINS  FUOM  CHARLES  II.  THE  GRANT  OF  PENN8TL- 
TANIA:    HIS   ADMIRABLE  PROCLAMATION   TO  THE  SETTLERS: 
H£   REPAIRS  TO   AMERICA:    GAINS   POSSESSION   OF   DELA- 
WARE:   HONOURABLE   DEALINGS   WITH    THE  INDIANS: 
THEIR  ATTACHMENT  TO  HIM. — THE  GREAT    TREATY. 


His  designs  enlarged  by  successful  experience,  and  his  enterprise 
aiming  at  the  foundation  of  a  commonwealth  more  free  and  perfect 
than  any  the  world  had  yet  witnessed,  in  IBbO  Penn  made  applica- 
tion to  the  crown  for  a  share  of  the  American  territory  then  distri- 
buted by  Charles  II.  with  such  a  lavish  hand  among  ambitious  or  prof- 
ligate courtiers.  If  his  proscribed  opinions  were  calculated  to  retard 
his  suit,  his  personal  address  and  fortunate  circumstances  were  equally 
suited  to  favour  it.  A  large  .sum  of  money,  due  to  his  father  from 
the  government,  he  ofiered  a^  the  price  of  the  desired  grant.  In 
March,  1681,  a  strong  opposition  overcome,  lie  obtained  from  the 
king  the  patent  of  a  vast  tract  of  territory,  containing  three  degrees 
of  latitude  and  five  of  longitude. 

In  naming  his  provin(;e,  his  modesty  prevented  any  allusion  to 
himself.  He  "suggested  Sylvania,  on  account  of  its  woods,  but  they 
would  still  add  Penn  to  it."  The  king,  it  is  said,  was  pleased  espe- 
cially to  command  and  sanction  this  compliment.  The  vast  tracts 
of  Pennsylvania,  thus  appropriately  titled,  he  was  to  hold  by  the 
payment  of  two  beaver-skins  yearly  to  the  crown,  and  one-fifth  of 


182 


THE  PEOTLR'S  BOOK  OF  IIIBTuBT. 


any  precious  metals  discovered  there.  Very  extensive  powers  of 
government  were  conferred  on  him  personally;  powers  of  which  he 
never  availed  himself  for  purposes  of  selfish  profit;  and  which  he 
used  or  surrendered  only  to  further  the  establishment  of  complete 
freedom,  justice,  and  toleration  over  his  vast  domain.  The  more 
effectually  to  carry  out  his  extensive  .  (;heme,  he  now  relinquished 
the  care  of  the  affairs  of  New  Jersey,  which  province,  under  his 
judicious  management,  had  continually  improved,  both  in  increase 
and  pro8perity.  Ilis  brief  and  admirable  proclamation  to  the  colo- 
nists (Swedes  and  others),  who  hud  already  settled  in  the  limits  of 
his  grant,  cannot  be  too  highly  extolled  for  its  simplicity,  directness, 
and  honesty,  "il/y  /Vierjtfo,"  he  said,  "I  wish  you  all  happiness, 
here  and  hereafler.  These  are  to  lett  you  to  know,  that  it  hath  pleased 
God  in  his  Providence  to  cast  you  in  my  Lott  and  Care.  It  is  a 
business,  that,  though  I  never  undertook  before,  yet  God  has  given 
me  nn  understanding  of  my  duty  and  an  honest  heart  to  do  it  up- 
rightly. I  hope  you  will  not  be  troubled  at  your  chainge  and  the 
king's  choice;  for  you  are  now  flxt,  at  the  mercy  of  no  Governour 
that  comes  to  make  his  fortune  great.  You  shall  be  governed  by 
laws  of  your  own  makeing,  and  live  a  free,  and,  if  you  will,  a  sober 
and  industreous  people.  I  shall  not  usurp  the  right  of  any,  nor 
oppress  his  person.  God  has  furnisht  me  with  a  better  resolution, 
and  has  given  me  his  grace  to  keep  it  In  short,  whatever  sober 
and  free  men  can  reasonably  desire  for  the  security  and  improvement 
of  their  own  happiness,  I  shall  heartily  comply  with — I  beseech 
God  to  direct  you  in  the  way  of  righteousness,  and  therein  prosper 
you  and  your  children  afler  you.  I  am  your  true  friend,  Wm. 
Penn."    (April,  1681.) 

Fresh  emigrants  were  speedily  forwarded  to  the  land  of  refuge; 
and  Penn,  with  noble  self-denial  and  thought  for  the  common  good, 
rejected  a  great  offer  made  to  him,  by  a  private  company,  for  a 
monopoly  (very  common  at  the  time)  of  Indian  traffic.  A  system 
of  government  was  devised,  to  be  submitted  to  the  approval  of  the 
settlers  themselves;  and  by  a  grant  procured  from  the  Duke  of 
York,  the  territory  of  the  present  state  of  Delaware  was  added  to 
the  already  vast  domain  of  Pennsylvania.  With  many  of  his  friends 
and  neighbours,  of  the  proscribed  persuasion,  the  proprietor  set  sail 
for  America;  and  afler  a  tedious  voyage  and  numerous  deaths  on 
board,  on  the  27th  of  October,  1682,  arrived  at  Newcastle. 

The  next  day,  great  numbers  of  the  original  settlers — Swedes, 


.,^«.4>«>»|iwywii»'«i»f^— "»«'"•>'"""' •^'""^'►'■T'^.^'i''^  ».f«».  »•*»»«■■. 


A 


";••'  >r^*>ii.'>' 


/•:.;  .■Hsi]'  ■;.< 


;** 


^ 


■.!■  '1         'V- 


I  III  I 


.^^.'■^^ 


■  "■•'X:^'".^  >■'-'' Ai-'---- 


except 
broken. 


T  li  *;   r  n  RjiT 


r  Of  pejfjr  itith  the  ixhia-vs. 


THE. SETTLEMENT  OF  PENK8TLVANIA. 


188 


Butch,  and  English — assembled  at  that  town ;  and  ceremonious  legal 
possession  of  Delaw^are  was  delivered  to  Penn  by  the  agent  of  the 
Duke  of  York.  Recommending  peace  and  sobriety  to  the  inhabit- 
ants, the  proprietor  journeyed  through  the  settlements  of  his  grant, 
and  visited  his  friends  in  the  neighbouring  provinces. 

With  a  conscientious  regard  to  the  rights  of  the  native  inhabit- 
ants, seldom  evinced  by  European  founders  of  colonies,  he  had 
made  strict  provision  in  the  articles  of  emigration  and  settlement 
for  the  protection  of  the  Indians  against  either  fraud  or  violence. 
The  goods  employed  in  traffic  with  them,  were  to  be  rigidly  exam- 
ined, to  test  their  quality,  "  that  the  said  Indians  might  neither  be 
abused  nor  provoked ;"  and  any  difference  between  the  two  races 
was  to  be  decided  by  a  jury  of  twelve,  half  Indians  and  half  white 
men.  On  his  return  to  the  Delaware  (1683),  occurred  that  memor- 
able treaty,  the  delight  of  history,  the  favourite  theme  of  art,  and 
the  perpetual  honour  of  the  faith  and  truthfulness  of  both  the  par- 
ties concerned  in  it  '  "  "'       '  '"       " 

With  a  few  of  his  Quaker  friends,  he  met  the  delegation,  itself 
numerous,  from  the  several  tribes  with  whom  the  new  settlers  were 
to  live  as  neighbours,  or  to  mingle  in  traffic,  or  in  the  chase.  Be- 
neath a  spreading  elm  at  Shakamaxon,  hard  by  the  present  city  of 
Philadelphia — then  a  lonely  river  bank,  covered  with  pines — in  sim- 
ple and  truthful  words,  he  addressed  the  assembled  Algonquins, 
impressing  the  advantages  of  just  and  loving  dealing,  and  of  constant 
peace  and  friendship.  "I  will  not  call  you  children,"  he  said,  "for 
parents  sometimes  chide  their  children  too  severely;  nor  brothers 
only;  for  brothers  differ.  The  friendship  between  me  and  you  I 
will  not  compare  to  a  chain ;  for  that  the  rains  might  rust,  or  the 
falling  tree  might  break.  We  are  the  same  as  if  one  man's  body 
were  to  be  divided  into  two  parts;  we  are  all  one  flesh  and  blood." 
In  reply,  the  chiefs  said,  "We  will  live  in  love  with  William  Penn 
and  his  children  as  long  as  the  sun  and  moon  shall  endure."  Pres- 
ents were  exchanged,  and  the  wampum-belts,  in  commemoration  of 
the  event,  were  given. 

No  oath  confirmed  this  simple  treaty,  made  in  the  free  forest,  by 
the  lonely  river,  beneath  the  arching  sky,  between  the  wild  tribes 
of  America  and  a  people  proscribed  in  civilissed  Europe  as  the  ene- 
mies of  society.  No  deeds  were  signed,  no  record  of  the  compact, 
except  the  simple  wampum,  was  preserved.  But  it  was  never 
broken.     The  hands  of  the  savages  were  never  imbrued  with 


II 


liili 


184 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HI8T0BT. 


Quaker  blood ;  and,  while  their  descendants  inhabited  the  same  laud, 
peace  and  good-will  ever  prevailed  between  them. 

"  In  the  following  year,"  to  use  the  language  of  an  elegant  his- 
torian,  "Penn  often  met  the  Indians  in  council  and  at  their  fes- 
tivals. He  visited  them  in  their  cabins,  shared  the  hospitable 
banquet  of  hominy  and  roasted  acorns,  and  laughed  and  frolicked, 
and  practised  athletic  games  with  the  light-hearted,  mirthful,  con- 
fiding red  men.  He  spoke  to  them  of  religion,  and  found  that  the 
tawny  skin  did  not  exclude  the  instinct  of  a  Deity.  '  The  poor  sav- 
age people  believed  in  God  and  the  soul  without  the  aid  of  meta- 
physics.' He  touched  the  secret  springs  of  sympathy,  and  succeeding 
generations  on  the  Susquehannah  acknowledged  his  loveliness." 


' .  I  ■  i 


CXTADT'CT)     TIT 


LIBERAL   LBOI8LAII0N    OP    PENNSYLVANIA. — PENN  POUNDS 

PHILADELPHIA:   ITS  RAPID  INCREASE. — PORMATION  OP  A 

CONSTITUTION.  —  GREAT  EMIGRATION  PROM  EUROPE. — 

GROWTH   OP  THE   PROYINCB. — PENN    RETURNS 

TO  ENGLAND.  —  HIS  SUBSEQUENT  CAREER. 


A  POPULAR  convention,  assembled  at  Chester,  in  December,  1682, 
was  entrusted  with  the  settlement  of  the  government.  Under  the 
just  and  liberal  spirit  of  the  pro-scribed  society  of  Friends,  extraor- 
dinary improvements  in  legislation  appeared.  Primogeniture  was 
abolished,  and  equal  suffrage  was  secured  to  all  tax-payers.  No  tax 
could  be  levied  except  by  force  of  law.  Murder  alone,  at  a  time 
when  capital  offences,  on  the  English  statute-books,  were  almost 
without  number,  was  to  be  punished  by  death.  The  punishment 
for  other  offences  wfis  mild  and  peasonable.  The  original  settlers— 
Swede?  Finns,  nnd  Dutch — were  assured  of  the  same  rights  as  Eng- 
li.-Nhmen.  The  beiievolent  pro{)rietor,  rejoicing  in  his  success  in 
founding  a  free  community,  and  amply  repaid  for  his  sacrifices  and 
exertions  by  the  gratitude  of  his  people,  concluded  the  work  of 
legiulation,  as  usual,  witli  words  of  reli/ious  counsel  and  exhortation. 

In  the  first  months  of  1083,  he  selected  for  the  site  of  his  capita) 
that  ndmiruble  location,  close  by  the  scene  of  his  treaty,  lying  be- 


THE  SET     T.EMENT  OF  PENNSYLVANIA. 


185 


tween  the  Sohuylki  i  ,  ud  the  Delaware.  Here  he  laid  out  and  founded 
the  city  of  Philadelphia — a  city  which  sprung  into  existence  with 
a  rapidity  and  prosperity  unprecedented  at  the  day,  and  almost 
rivalling  the  Aladdin-like  structures  in  our  western  regions,  which 
seem  the  growth  of  a  night — the  work  of  enchantment.  In  August 
of  that  year,  it  consisted  of  but  three  or  four  cottages.  Within  two 
years  it  contained  six  hundred  houses. 

Immediately  afler  its  selection,  indeed,  (March,  1683)  a  convention 
was  assembled  there  for  the  purpose  of  forming  a  constitution.  By 
that  instrument  it  was  provided  that  a  council  and  assembly  should 
be  elected  by  the  people,  the  first  for  three  years,  and  the  latter  for 
The  initiative  of  laws  was  reserved  to  the  governor  and  coun- 


one. 


cil,  and  their  ratification  depended  on  the  assembly,  directly  repre- 
senting the  action  of  the  people.  The  governor  was  allowed  a 
negative  voice  on  the  action  of  the  council.  The  people  received  the 
charter,  so  unexpectedly  liberal,  with  gratitude  and  exultation;  but 
the  former  of  these  feelings,  always  short-lived  with  communities, 
was,  not  long  after,  merged  in  the  eager  desire  to  establish  a  still 
more  complete  form  of  democracy. 

When  the  tidings  of  thiii  unexampled  generosity  and  tolerance  on 
the  part  of  the  proprietor  reached  Europe,  numbers,  especially  of 
the  persecuted,  from  the  British  isles,  (torn  Holland,  and  from  Ger- 
many, flocked  across  the  seas  to  share  in  the  blessings  provided  by 
the  forethought  and  magnanimity  of  a  single  man.  The  sudden 
growth  of  Philadelphia  has  been  mentioned.  That  of  the  whole 
province  was  on  a  corresponding  scale — ontrivalling  even  the  rapid 
increase  of  New  England.  "  I  must,  without  vanity,  say,"  affirms 
Penn,  with  just  pride,  "I  have  led  the  greatest  colony  into  America 
that  ever  any  man  did  upon  a  private  credit,  and  the  most  prosper- 
ous beginnings  that  ever  were  in  it  are  to  be  found  among  us."  His 
humane  and  glorious  mission  in  the  New  World  accomplished,  the 
executive  power  entrusted  to  a  commission  of  the  council,  the  gen- 
erous founder  of  Pennsylvania  took  an  affecting  leave  of  the  people 
who  owed  him  so  deep  a  debt  of  gratitude.  Tender  remembrance 
and  pious  counsel  mingled  in  his  last  words.  **I  have  been  with 
you,"  he  said,  "cared  over  you,  and  served  you,  with  unfeigned 
love;  and  you  are  beloved  of  me  and  dear  to  me  beyond  utterance. 
•  *  You  are  come  to  a  quiet  land,  and  liberty  and  authority 
are  in  your  own  hands.  Rule  for  Him  under  whom  the  princes  of  this 
world  will  one  day  esteem  it  an  honour  to  govern  in  their  places." 


'  i 


186 


THE  PEOPLE'S   BOOK  OF  HI8T0RT. 


Returned  to  England,  (1684,)  Penn  employed  his  fortune,  his  influ- 
ence, his  eloquence,  in  behalf  of  the  oppressed.  Thanks  to  his 
name,  his  successful  enterprise,  and  the  respect  which  high  integrity 
will  ever  command,  his  voice  at  court  was  potential.  At  his  inter- 
cession, many  hundreds  of  his  unfortunate  brethren  were  released 
from  the  prisons  in  which  they  had  been  so  long  immured.  The 
eagerness  of  the  new  sovereign  (James  II.)  to  secure  immunity  for 
his  fellow-communicants,  the  Catholics,  led  him  to  listen  favourably 
to  applications  in  behalf  of  other  dissenters  from  the  Establishment 
Penn,  in  advance  of  all  who  sought  either  exclusive  supremacy  or 
mere  toleration  for  their  respective  creeds,  boldly  contended  for 
unlimited  freedom  of  conscience,  and  won  immortal  honour  by  the 
wisdom,  the  logic,  and  the  eloquence  with  which  his  writings  in 
behalf  of  that  grand  object  continually  abound. 

The  first  fruit  of  his  generous  concessions  to  the  colonists,  was 
the  display  of  a  rather  turbulent  spirit  of  freedom.  His  legislators, 
new  to  their  business,  soon  became  involved  in  quarrels  with  the 
executive,  and  evinced  much  jealousy  even  of  the  limited  share  of 
power  and  profit  which  the  single-minded  proprietor  had  reserved 
as  his  own.'  "The  maker  of  the  first  Pennsylvania  almanac  was 
censured  for  publishing  Penn  as  a  lord.  The  assembly  originated 
bills  without  scruple ;  they  attempted  a  new  organization  of  the 
judiciary;  they  alarmed  the  merchants  by  their  lenity  towards 
debtors;  they  would  vote  no  taxes;  they  claimed  the  right  of  in- 
specting the  records,  and  displacing  the  officers  of  the  courts;  they 
expelled  a  member  who  reminded  them  of  their  contravening  the 
provisions  of  their  charter."  These  tokens  of  ingratitude,  leading, 
indeed,  to  no  disastrous  results,  must  have  borne  somewhat  heavily 
on  the  heart  of  the  benefactor  of  the  province — that  benefactor,  who, 
having  expended  his  estate  in  delivering  the  oppressed  and  found- 
ing a  nation,  and  having  relinquished  in  favour  of  his  people  the  vast 
profits  which  avarice,  or  even  common  custom  might  have  grasped, 
found  himself,  in  old  age,  confined  for  debt  within  the  rules  of  the 
Fleet  prison.  But  a  steadfast  hope  and  a  serene  conscience,  the 
prompters  and  supporters  of  his  noble  career,  were  equally  his  con- 
solers under  its  unprosperous  personal  termination.  His  fame, 
emerging  from  the  clouds  of  envy  and  detraction,  shines,  century 
after  century,  with  a  purer  and  more  steady  ray.  His  memory 
will  ever  be  cherished  by  mankind  as  that  of  one  of  the  wisest, 
worthiest^  and  least  selfish  of  their  race. 


h  '■•}'-^,. 

hU' 

y.  ;*ij«i.l 

T 

B.UA-^I^ 

;!.-<  liiUi 

I     .•  i 

MK^ll". 

hi'   •'.'•I 

IIR  lOM 

ITTKU 

.  *l  .     I   ''  t    1 


Ai 


>/!  iur. 


THE  NOETHERN  COLONIES, 

CONTINUED. 


■  ..i 


U-tJif    ■   t. 


-••*'     •"■  '^ 


Cn   A   D  T  r  t)     T 
itit    til,    i      1     Xi    £i       I  , 


IIB  BSMUND  ANDROS  C0MKI8SI0NSD  BT  THB  DUXB  OF  TOBX:  HIS 

ATTBMPT8  TO  EXTEND  HIS  AUTHORITY  OTER  CONNECTICUT  — 

THOMAS   DONOAN. — UNION    07   THB   COLONIES   UNDER  i 

BOTAL  OOTERNOR. — ANDROS  APPOINTED  O0TEBN0B> 

.    OBNBRAL. — OPPRESSION  IN  TQB  COLONIES. — PBO- 

OBBDINOS  AGAINST  CONNECTICUT  AND  RHODE  ISLAND. 

— ANDROS'S  TISIT   TO  CONNECTICUT. — PRE8EB- 
.,,  TATION  OF  THB  CHARTER. — THB  NORTHERN. 
P&OTINCES  FORCED  TO  8UBXISSI0N. — DOINGS 
IN  NEW  ENGLAND  UPON  THE  OCCURRENCB  T     : 

OF  THE  RETOLUTION  OF  1688. 


f 


'.$•■ 


b 


III  iV'M  }    Ml  f1 


!•'  -  •] ;  i_y-. 


fiI)J<. 


,.,( 


At  the  period  of  the  rScession  to  England  of  the  territories  of  the 
New  Netheriands,  after  a  brief  possession  by  the  Dutch,  in  1673-4, 
James,  Duke  of  York,  procured  a  new  royal  patent,  by  which  his 
former  rights  of  proprietorship  were  secured  to  him,  with  enlarged 
governmental  powers.  He  chose  a  fit  emissary  for  the  furtherance 
of  his  arbitrary  intentions  respecting  his  New  England  territory,  in 
the  person  of  Major  Edmund  Andros,  who  came  over  in  the  autumn 
of  1674,  armed  with  nearly  absolute  authority,  and  entered  upon 
the  exercise  of  his  office  as  governor  at  New  York,  in  the  month  of 
October.      ..t...,  :^    ;•■  .  —  ;  ■■  y<\<>'t  '>•     ■■:->  >-        ■' * - 

The  people  of  Connecticut,  justly  proud  of  the  privileges  bestowed 
upon  them  in  the  charter  obtained  from  Charles  IL,  by  the  exertions 
of  Winthrop,  made  open  resistance  to  the  attempt  by  Andros  to 
extend  his  jurisdiction  over  their  territory  as  far  as  the  Connecticut 
river,  which  he  claimed  to  be  the  boundary  of  New  York.    The 


188 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HI8T0BT. 


patent  of  the  duke  certainly  covered  this  district,  and  extended 
eastward  as  far  as  the  Kennebec.  The  year  after  his  appointment, 
the  governor,  with  several  armed  vessels,  made  a  demonstration 
upon  the  fort  at  Saybrook,  but  such  was  the  aspect  of  determination 
on  the  part  of  the  colonial  militia,  and  such  the  tone  of  a  protest 
forwarded  by  the  assembly  then  in  session  at  Hartford,  that  he  judged 
it  prudent  to  withdraw.  -  -       V 

At  a  later  period,  after  the  accession  of  James  II.  to  the  throne  of 
England,  the  policy  of  uniting  the  New  England  colonies,  and  sub- 
jecting them  to  the  sway  of  the  royal  governor,  was  more  energet- 
ically pursued.  Andros  was  superseded,  in  1688,  by  Colonel  Thomas 
Dongan,  a  man  of  more  enlarged  views,  and  generally  far  more 
acceptable  to  the  colonists  than  his  predecessor.  During  the  three 
years  of  this  administration,  the  principal  events  of  political  interest 
are  connected  with  the  history  of  that  powerful  aboriginal  confed- 
eracy, known  as  the  Six  Nations. 

Upon  the  demise  of  the  crown,  in  1685,  the  new  monarch,  wi:h 
characteristic  tyranny  and  short-sightedness,  determined  on  push- 
ing forward  his  scheme  for  a  union  of  the  provinces.  The  charter 
of  Massachusetts  was  annulled  by  legal  process  in  the  English 
courts.  New  Hampshire  having  been  previously  separated  from  that 
colony,  and  constituted  a  royal  province,  in  opposition  to  the  wishes 
of  its  inhabitants.  "Writs  of  Quo  Warranto  were  also  issued  against 
the  authorities  of  Connecticut  and  Bhode  Island,  requiring  them  to 
appear  and  show  by  "  what  warrant "  they  exercised  powers  of  gov- 
crnment.  Joseph  Dudley,  a  native  of  the  country,  was  temporarily 
placed  at  the  head  of  affairs  in  the  eastern  colonies,  but  was  super- 
seded at  the  close  of  the  year  1686  by  Andros,  now  Sir  Edmund, 
who  came  out  as  Governor-General  of  New  England,  and  in  whom, 
assisted  by  a  royal  council,  were  vested  all  powers,  legislative  and 
executive.  He  brought  with  him  a  small  body  of  regular  troops, 
then,  for  the  first  time,  quartered  upon  the  New  England  colonies. 

Andros  is  spoken  of  as  a  man  of  undoubted  abilities  and  attain- 
ments; and  he  appears  to  have  possessed  a  spirit  of  military  pride 
which  led  him  to  respect  an  open  and  bold  opposition.  The  prin- 
cipal acts  of  tyranny  which  rendered  his  administration  unpopular, 
were  in  direct  accordance  with  instructions  from  the  English  court 
Power,  such  as  bis,  can  safely  be  entrusted  with  no  man. 

Among  other  grievances,  the  liberty  of  the  press  was  abolished, 
and  the  unpopular  Edward  Randolph,  who  had  previously  been 


THE   NOBTHEBN   COLONIES. 


189 


sent  out  aa  inspector  of  customs,  was  appointed  censor.  The  reli* 
gious  privileges  and  prejudices  of  the  colonists  by  various  regu- 
lations were  invaded  or  outraged.  In  Massachusetts,  marriages  were 
required  to  be  celebrated  by  a  clergyman  of  the  Episcopal  Church, 
to  the  great  disgust  and  inconvenience  of  the  population.  Even  the 
Act  of  Toleration,  by  which  dissenters  in  general  were  freed  from 
former  disabilities,  was  looked  upon  with  suspicion,  as  being  but 
one  step  taken  by  a  Catholic  monarch  towards  the  final  establish- 
ment of  his  own  church. 

An  assessment  of  taxes,  by  the  governor  and  council,  was  at  first 
met  by  a  general  refusal  and  resistance;  but  the  levy  was  enforced, 
and  obstinate  defaulters  were  punished  with  severity  by  fines  and 
imprisonment  A  favourite  and  most  productive  method  of  extor- 
tion, was  the  impeachment  of  titles  to  lands  held  under  the  old 
grants  from  towns  or  from  the  general  assemblies,  and  ruinous  fees 
were  exacted  from  those  who  were  thus  compelled  to  procure  new 
patents  from  the  royal  officials,    .r    , 

Legal  process  against  the  governments  of  Connecticut  and  Rhode 
Island  had  been  stayed  upon  the  transmission  of  memorials  to  the 
king,  which  had  been  construed  into  submission  to  the  royal  pleasure; 
but  the  charters  of  these  provinces  had  not  been  formally  surren- 
dered. In  January  of  1687,  Sir  Edmund  proceeded  in  person  to 
Bbode  Island,  and  put  an  end  to  the  existing  government.  He 
destroyed  the  public  seal,  and,  without  material  opposition,  estab- 
lished the  royal  authority,  as  represented  by  himself  and  his  creatures. 

The  General  Assembly  of  Connecticut,  being  in  session  during  the 
month  of  October  following,  was  visited  by  the  governor-general, 
who  came,  with  an  armed  force,  to  compel  a  surrender  of  the  charter, 
and  to  dissolve  the  provincial  government.  The  treasured  docu- 
ment was  produced,  and  the  question  was  discussed  at  great  length. 
Night  came  on,  and,  as  it  was  evident  that  Andros  was  fully 
determined  to  enforce  his  claims,  a  plan  was  concerted  by  which  the 
instrument  that  bad  assured  a  free  government  to  Connecticut  was  at 
least  preserved,  although  rendered,  for  the  time  being,  of  no  effect 
The  lights  were  extinguished,  and,  in  the  darkness  and  confusion 
which  ensued.  Captain  Wadsworth,  of  Hartford,  seized  upon  the 
charter,  and,  making  his  way  out  of  the  assembly-room,  succeeded 
in  depositing  it  unseen  in  a  place  of  security,  viz:  the  hollow  of  a 
huge  oak.  This  tree  is  still  living,  and  forms  an  object  no  less 
interesting  from  its  antiquity,  (being  one  of  the  few  denizens  of  the 


li 


190 


Tll£  PEOPLE'S  BOUK  OF  UISTOBY. 


aboriginal  forest  now  standing  in  the  thiokly -settled  portions  of  Nevr 
England,)  and  fh>m  the  great  size  of  its  gnarled  and  picturesque 
trunk,  than  from  its  association  with  the  incident  above  related. 
The  original  charter  is  still  preserved  at  the  secretary's  office,  in 
Hartford. 

Andros  met  with  no  further  opposition,  and  all  New  England, 
with  New  York  and  New  Jersey,  finally  submitted  to  his  dictation. 
He  maintained  his  position  until  the  revolution  of  1688,  by  which 
William  and  Mary  gained  possession  of  the  throne  of  England.  An 
unprofitable  eastern  expedition  against  the  French  and  Indians, 
under  the  Baron  of  St.  Castine,  was  among  the  most  noticeable 
events  of  the  latter  portion  of  his  administration.  *''«>»    ►'f^^*  ■  ' 

Upon  receipt  of  the  first  definite  intelligence  of  the  revolution, 
the  people  of  Boston  rose  in  masa  Andros,  his  Secretary  Ran- 
dolph, and  other  officials,  were  seized  and  thrown  into  prison.  The 
venerable  Simon  Bradstreet,  former  governor  of  the  colony,  was  put 
at  the  head  of  a  provisional  government.         n  >i^a  ;km   «.         , 

The  whole  of  New  England  followed  the  example  of  Massa- 
chusetts. Connecticut  and  Bhode  Island  were  reorganized  under 
their  violated  charters,  and  all  the  other  colonies,  in  resuming  their 
old  forms  of  government,  rejoiced  over  the  forced  abdication  of  the 
king,  and  the  establishment  of  a  Protestant  succession.      '* 

Andros  was  sent  to  England,  and  the  various  charges  against 
him  were  examined  by  William  and  his  council.  It  appeared,  how- 
ever, that  he  had  in  no  material  instance  exceeded  the  f)0wer8 
expressly  bestowed  upon  him,  and  the  complaints  were  dismissed. 
Connecticut  and  Rhode  Island  received  the  royal  confirmation  of 
their  old  charters;  but  Massachusetts  was  less  fortunate,  having  made 
defence  in  the  proceedings  under  the  quo  warranto,  to  final  judg 
meat,  which,  it  was  decided,  could  only  be  reversed  on  writ  of  error 


,»■•  .■ 


'■>-'t 


»••      i 


* 


■-^-«l*«^*w.)*,**i*«,-.^(|4«C||fe%»,,'fl»«4^  4,,.i»»^„.^ 


t  , 


.J'-.  .    ! 


:•■     .^7 


-*     :  A  .V. 


.    ti|^ 


V' 


BORN  AT  LONDON.  OCTuBK 


nil.  I.  i->J>i    ''»  -^"•'^'' 

THE      POUNDER      OF      PENNSYLVANIA 

R  u.  imi:   TOVSmV  pmi.AnKI.HUIA.  «»:   DIED  JULY  30.  ITO 


1 1 


^^m 


XIW   YO 

8CMPTI 

THE 

8L0U 

LSI 

FU 

^M- 


TUK   MOKTHEBN   COLONIES. 


m 


>  -iK 


^„j  ,\  n^' 


CHAPTER   II. 


•''*. 


mW   YORK  SUB8IQUBNT  TO    THB  RITOLUTION  OF    16S8. — A8' 

8CMPTI0N  or  AUTHORITY  BT  JACOB  LBI8LSR:  OPPOSITION  BT 

IHB     COUNCIL.  —  INDIAN     INCUR8I0N8.  —  ARRIVAL     0? 

8L0UOHTBR  AS  OOTBRNOR.  —  TRIAL  AND  SXECUTION  OF 

LEISLBR  AND  MILBOURNE. — COLONEL  FLETCHER:  HI8 

FUTILB     ATTEMPT    TO    ENFORCE    AUTHORITY     IN 

,    ,\      CONNECTICUT.  —  CHURCH  DIFFICULTIES.  —  BEL- 

'    :<..  LAHONT'S  PEACEABLE  ADMINISTRATION, — 

CAPTAIN    KIDD,    THE    PIRATB. 


/^C 


In  New  York,  the  first  news  of  the  English  revolution  created 
great  confusion  and  terror.  Vague  reports  of  intended  outrages  on 
the  part  of  the  Catholics  excited  the  populace,  and  hastened  a  move- 
ment which  proved  fatal  to  its  leaders.  Jacob  Leisler,  a  captain  of 
militia,  and  a  Dutch  merchant  of  wealth  and  respectability,  was  pre- 
vailed upon  to  take  command  of  a  body  of  insurgents,  and  to  seize 
upon  the  fort.  The  lieutenant-governor,  Colonel  Francis  Nicholson, 
fled  the  country,  and  Leisler,  at  the  head  of  a  "committee  of  safety," 
assumed  the  administration  of  government,  in  opposition  to  the 
regular  municipal  authorities.  The  news  of  the  accession  of  William 
and  Mary  having  arriverl,  he  made  public  proclamation  of  loyalty 
to  the  new  sovereigns,  and  dispatched  a  letter  to  them,  rendering  an 
account  of  his  proceedings,  with  a  detail  of  the  causes  which  had 
rendered  such  action  necessary  or  expedient.  In  the  month  of 
August,  Milbourne,  a  son-in-law  of  Leisler,  came  over  from  England, 
and  received  the  appointment  of  secretary  by  the  self-constituted 
government  The  members  of  the  old  council,  having  retreated  to 
Albany,  there  proclaimed  their  intended  adherence  to  the  new  suc- 
cession, and  their  denunciation  of  the  rebellious  Leisler.  The  people 
of  Albany,  in  convention,  determined  to  await  a  direct  appointment 
by  the  crown,  and,  having  conferred  on  Major  Schuyler  the  com- 
mand of  the  fort,  refused  to  submit  to  the  requirements,  or  yield  to 
the  persuasions  of  Milbourne,  who,  with  a  force  of  fifty  men,  had 
come  to  demand  possession  in  the  name  of  his  superior. 

In  December  (1689)  came  out  a  royal  comtnission,  directed  to 
Nicholson,  "or  such  as,  for  the  time  being,  takes  car* for  preserving 
ToL.  IV.-41 


\^^ 


VHK   PEOPLK'B  BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


tt.  ciw  'i  and  fidmx  iiiiitrTUig  the  laws,"  Ac.  Leisler  adopted  thig 
as  hia  o^it  W»rr«»it  for  iHit  exeriae  of  the  powers  he  hftd  UHumed. 
Iniecuro  itv  his  ponition,  atid  opjf<«)Red  by  a  powerf\il  party,  the 
governor  was  unable-  Home  Bay  lii.  .'mi)etcnt — to  make  neccwa-y 
jji  rparations  for  tl .  protection  of  the  northern  frontier.  War  exiK»?l 
between  England  an!  Franc**,  and  parties  of  French  and  Indiana, 
mtutl  f^t  by  Frontenac,  the  Canin^»an  governor,  ravaged  the  country. 
In  ur.  attack  upon  Schenectady,  some  sixty  of  the  inhabitants  were 
slain,  twenty-five  were  carried  into  captivity,  and  many  who  escaped 
suffered  every  extremity  from  exposure  during  their  flight  towards 
Albany.  An  expedition  against  Canada,  undertaken  by  New  York, 
Connecticut,  and  Massachusetts,  from  want  of  timely  cdoperation 
between  the  different  parties,  proved  a  complete  failure. 

licisler  succeeded  in  silencing  the  open  opposition  at  Albany, 
but  his  supremacy  was  destined  to  be  of  short  duration.  Henry 
Sloughter,  with  a  commission  from  the  crown,  came  oat  as  g  ,y. 
ernor  in  March,  1691.  A  certain  Captain  Ingoldsby  had  lande^  at 
New  York  with  troops  three  months  previous,  had  announced  this 
appointment,  and  claimed  possession  of  the  fort.  Leisler  refused  to 
surrender  the  place,  and,  on  the  arrival  of  Sloughter,  by  order  of 
that  official,  was  arrested,  together  with  Milbourne,  and  several 
members  of  his  council. 

The  first  steps  taken  by  the  trovemor,  were  to  appoint  a  special 
court  for  the  trial  of  the  i«-  noners,  and  to  issue  warrants  for  an 
assembly,  or  council,  to  as-^ist  him  in  the  administration.  The  result 
was  what  might  be  expected  from  the  character  of  Sloughter,  and 
the  arbitrary  nature  of  the  proceedings.  The  accused  were  convicted 
of  high-treason,  and  sentenced  to  death.  The  council  concurred 
with  the  sentence,  and  the  governor,  at  first  hesitating  to  push  mat- 
ters to  such  an  extremity,  finally  signed  the  death-warrants  of  Leisler 
and  Milbourne.  It  has  been  said  that  his  assent  was  obtained  dur- 
ing a  fit  of  intoxication.  The  victims  perished  on  the  gallows,  in 
the  month  of  May  (1691).  They  met  their  fate  with  a  composure 
and  in  a  Christian  spirit  whic'i  must  have  enlisted  ^.  '•  i  «y.iipathy. 
Their  heirs  ofkerwards  received  their  estotes,  t«  hU  '..  '  .  being 
reveri»ed,  and  the  vain  ceremonial  of  funeral  hoi.ou.ii  was  jiorformed 
over  the  bodies  of  the  unfortunate  governor  and  his  secretary. 

Colonel  Fletcher  succeeded  Sloughter  in  1692,  the  latter  having 
d'    '  Btiddenly,  after  holding  office  about  four  months.    He  was 
\f«onccJ''by  the  crown  as  commander  of  the  militia  of  New 


/) 


V  THE   NOBTrrRRN  COLON  I  IS. 


198 


Jersey  and  Connecticut,  and  \u  the  following  year  proceeded  to 
Hartford  for  the  purpoM  of  <nforciug  bin  militory  claims.  The 
Connecticut  authorities  refused  to  iiubmit  to  Hm  demands,  as  being 
opposed  to  privileges  secured  to  them  by  barter.  The  militia  com- 
panies were  assembled,  but  wi.v  ii  Fletcher  ordered  the  reading  of 
his  commission,  Captain  William  Wadsworth,  the  prnici|'  '  officer, 
caused  the  drums  to  be  beat,  and,  adding  to  this  violence  a  peri^Mial 
threat,  "that  he  would  make  day-lighk  shine  through  him,"  so  over- 
awed the  colonel,  that  he  desisted  fVom  the  attempt  to  takt;  'X)mmand, 
V  \<^  I  le  next  day  set  out  for  New  York. 

1i  her  held  office  until  1698.  He  had  much  controversy  with 
:;he  as  lembly  respecting  laws  for  the  settlement  of  clergymen.  Fa- 
vouring the  English  Church,  he  was  greatly  exasperated  when  the 
house,  after  providing  for  the  appointment  of  ministers  to  be  elected 
by  their  parishioners,  refused  to  add  an  amendment  by  which  the 
sanction  of  the  governor  was  required  to  their  settlement  Un  pro- 
rogued the  assembly  forthwith,  accusing  the  members,  in  hw  fare- 
well speech,  as  being  possessed  of  "a  stubborn  ill-temper." 

Lord  Bellamont,  who  succeeded  him  in  1698,  as  governor  of  the 
northern  oolonies,  (with  the  exception  of  Connecticut  and  Rh^de 
Island,)  was  a  man  of  noble  and  generous  disposition,  and  throUf.'h- 
out  his  three  years'  administration  gave  general  satisfaction  to  tne 
people.  It  was  at  this  time  that  the  notorious  Captain  Kidd  ob- 
tained a  commission  from  the  crown  to  cruise  afler  pirates,  with 
which  the  seas  were  infested.  He  was  fUrnished  with  a  vessel  by 
Bellamont  and  others,  for  this  purpose,  it  being  supposed  that  great 
treasures  might  be  recovered  by  the  capture  of  these  outlaws,  and 
by  ferreting  out  their  places  of  retreat  The  treachery  of  Kidd,  his 
subsequent  piratical  exploits,  his  audacious  appearance  in  public,  his 
capture,  and  execution,  mingled  with  many  fabulous  and  exaggerated 
accounts  of  adventure,  have  ever  since  been  favourite  themes  for 
rude  nautical  K)ng8  and  tales.  The  search  for  treasures  which  he 
was  supposed  to  have  buried,  has  been  continued  even  to  the 
present  day.        ; 

^1  'ijii'jHv'i  d,,ijitt 


•i»,. 


hi.iii'iii'N  '< 


itt  ( 


r. 


'y-Vit 


fft;-;       F,-}] 


•f-.l      <        h 


:■>.  ,vliuii"V,'i'  1,1 


If.  .. 


1 

I 


IH 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


iiii  li,  i     1    Jj  Zi     III, 


'If    <,(■•/. 


^\,.. 


NEW    CHARTER    OP    MASSACHUSETTS. — TRIALS    FOR    WITCH- 
CRAFT  IN   SALEM. — FIRST    EXECUTION. — PARRI8  AND  HIS 
FAMILY. — COURT  OF   EXAMINATION   AT  SALEM. — COTTON 
MATHER. — ARRIVAL    OF     PHIPP8. — NUMEROUS     EXE- 
CUTIONS.—  CONFESSIONS. — CRUELTIES  IJ^FLICTED. 
— CHANGE    IN    PUBLIC    OPINION.        ,         .    « 


In  Massachusetts,  after  the  RevoIutioD,  a  regular  government  was 
established  under  a  new  charter,  brought  out  by  Sir  William  Pliipps, 
in  1602,  which  included  under  one  government  with  that  province 
the  colony  of  Plymouth,  and  the  partially  conquered  wilderness 
eastward  to  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Lawrence. 

This  year  is  memorable  in  the  history  of  New  England,  as  the 
period  when  a  fatal  delusion,  a  superstitious  terror,  and  a  bloody 
fanaticism,  resulted  in  acts  which  reflected  an  indelible  disgrace  upon 
the  eastern  colonies.  We  cannot,  perhaps,  at  this  date,  arrive  at 
satisfactory  conclusions  respecting  the  reputed  witchcraft  at  Salem. 
Within  the  last  few  years  a  belief  in  manifestations  as  strange,  and 
as  apparently  supernatural  as  those  recorded  by  Mather  and  other 
early  historians,  has  been  steadily  gaining  ground:  it  numbers 
among  its  converts  men  of  every  condition,  and  of  every  variety  of 
intellectual  culture  and  endowment ;  and  were  the  same  interpreta- 
tion, as  in  the  seventeenth  century,  put  upon  the  experiments 
whereby  the  phenomena  are  developed  now,  and  were  the  same 
necessity  felt  for  literal  obedience  to  the  Hebrew  law,  scenes  mure 
horrible  than  those  we  are  now  about  to  record,  would  be  renewed 
in  our  midst. 

We  cannot,  however,  give  the  actors  in  those  disgraceful  pro- 
ceedings credit  for  entire  honesty  and  sincerity.  Even  granting 
that  a  foundation  for  suspicion  and  accusation  was  laid  by  the  occur- 
rence of  events  so  unaccountable,  that,  in  that  age,  reference  to  the 
devil  and  his  familiars  as  their  originators  wfis  but  a  natural  ex- 
planation of  the  mystery,  we  can  discover  too  much  evidence  of 
private  malice,  of  duplicity,  and  misrepresentation,  to  allow  of  much 
room  for  charity  towards  tho.se  who  took  an  active  part  in  the  })er- 
seculions,  or  those  who  endeavoured  to  justify  or  gloss  over 
their  crimes. 


THE   NORTHERN   COLONIES. 


195 


The  first  prosecutions  for  witchcraft  took  place  several  years  pre- 
vious to  the  time  of  which  we  are  now  speaking.  An  unfortunate 
old  Irish  woman,  named  Glover,  was  executed  as  a  witch  in  1688. 
Her  accusation  appears  to  have  resulted  from  personal  pique,  but 
she  was  a  Catholic,  she  spoke  indifferent  English,  and  her  broken 
answers  were  easily  interpreted  against  her. 

The  first  case  that  occurred  in  1692,  was  that  of  an  Indian  woman, 
named  Tituba,  a  servant  in  the  house  of  Samuel  Parris,  minister  of 
Salem.  A  daughter  and  a  niece  of  the  latter,  of  the  ages  respect- 
ively of  about  nine  and  twelve,  became  afflicted  with  strange  con- 
vulsions, and  complained  of  pains  and  torments  unexplainable  by 
the  facuHy.  They  were  pronounced  bewitched,  and  Tituba  was 
flogged  by  her  master  into  a  confession  that  she  was  the  guilty  party. 
Without  undertaking  to  reason  upon  the  cause  of  the  phenomena, 
to  what  extent  some  strange  sympathetic  mental  delusion  (such  as 
has  from  time  to  time  been  observed  in  all  ages),  may  have  pre- 
vailed, how  far  men  in  their  sober  senses  may  have  become  the 
dupes  of  artful  children,  or  what  really  unaccountable  physical 
manifestations  may  have  taken  place,  we  can  only  give  the  facts  as 
they  actually  occurred. 

Accusations  multiplied  with  the  number  of  the  supposed  possessed 
or  afflicted  persons.  They  extended  from  the  poor  and  helpless  to 
those  of  good  standing  and  reputation,  and  a  universal  panic  was 
excited,  which  finally  worked  its  own  cure.  Meantime,  a  special 
court  was  convened  at  Salem  (now  Danvers)  meeting-house,  in  the 
month  of  April,  and  the  trials  formally  commenced.  The  accusers 
were  personally  confronted  with  'their  supposed  tormentors,  and 
added  to  their  former  declarations  what  appeared,  to  the  prejudi«»ed 
and  excited  court,  direct  and  convincing  evidence. 

For  minute  accounts  of  the  proceedings  throughout  these  trials, 
as  well  aa  for  experiments  carried  out  at  great  length  upon  the  pos- 
sessed, in  a  spirit  of  philosophical  inquiry,  see  the  writings  of  Cotton 
Mather.  He  appears  to  have  been  a  firm  believer  in  the  reality  of 
these  diabolical  manifestations,  btit  such  was  his  dogmatic  obstinacy, 
and  his  excessive  self  esteem,  th-^t  he  never  could  or  would  confess 
to  having  been  deceived.  In  reading  his  works,  while  we  laugh  at 
his  absurdities,  we  cannot  restrain  feelings  of  the  strongest  indigna- 
tion at  his  cruelty,  bigotry,  and  intolerance.  As  a  historian,  he  is 
notoriously  fallacious,  but  we  may  believe  that  he  saw,  or  thought 
he  saw,  the  things  which  he  describes  as  coming  under  his  personal 


196 


THE   PEOPLE'S    BOOK   OF   III8T0BY. 


observation,  for  he  could  scarcely  appear  in  a  more  unamiable  light 
than  that  in  which  he  is  exhibited  upon  his  own  testimony. 

In  the  midst  of  the  excitement  (May  14th)  Governor  Phipps 
arrived,  and  assumed  his  office.  He  entered  at  once  into  the  spirit 
of  persecution,  and  ordered  into  irons  the  unfortunates  with  whom 
the  jails  were  crowded. 

Several  sessions  of  the  special  court  were  held  during  the  summer, 
and  by  the  close  of  September  no  less  than  twenty  persons,  of  various 
ages  and  of  both  sexes,  had  perished  on  the  gallows  as  wit<ihes.or  ne- 
cromancers. Among  the  most  noted  of  these,  was  George  Burroughs, 
formerly  minister  at  Salem,  and  a  rival  of  his  successor,  the  infamous 
Pnrris.  His  demeanour  on  the  scaffold  was  so  strongly  indicative  of 
innocence,  and  such  was  the  effect  produced  by  his  prayers  and 
dying  address,  that  it  is  said  that  the  execution  might  have  been  pre- 
vented by  the  spectators  if  Cotton  Mather  had  not  made  his  way 
through  the  thrcmg  on  horseback,  and  exerted  his  usual  influence 
over  the  people,  by  vituperation  against  the  victim  of  superstition. 
The  principal  point  made  against  Burroughs,  was  his  denial  of  the 
reality  of  the  supposed  witchcraft.  So  strong,  indeed,  was  the  pop- 
ular  prejudice,  that  those  only  of  the  accused  could  hope  for  favour 
or  safety  who  were  willing  to  minister  to  it  by  ponfessions  and  self- 


accusationa 


•.i.ic*t  vy 


"J!(i!.«T'ji7  '>')l;-Mi;};! 


The  wildest  absurdities  respecting  diabolical  witch-meetings  and 
incantations  thus  received  corroboration.  There  was  no  difficulty  in 
iinding  evidence  against  those  who  refused  to  confess,  provided  they 
had  come,  from  any  cause,  to  be  in  bad  odour,  or  had  personal  enemies. 
The  trials,  as  far  as  any  form  of  law  or  rules  of  evidence  are  concerned, 
were  the  merest  mockery;  for  whatever  contradictions  in  testi- 
mony might  occur,  they  were  easily  explained  by  the  hypothesis 
that  this  was  only  an  attempt  by  the  devil  to  bewilder  the  witness 
by  taking  away  his  memory,  or  by  making  further  false  impressions, 
In  various  instances,  direct  and  cruel  bodily  torture  was  resorted  to, 
in  order  to  extort  confession.  One  old  man  of  eighty  or  ninety, 
named  Giles  Cory,  refused  to  plead,  and  was  barbarously  pressed  to 
death,  being  subjected  to  the  ^^ peine  forte  et  dure,'"  as  provided  by  the 
law  of  England.  We  must  recollect,  however,  in  passing  judgment 
upon  all  these  acts,  that,  provided  their  premises  were  correct,  the 
early  colonists  only  carried  out  principles  universally  received,  and 
acted  upon  for  ages,  in  the  parent  country.  And  yet  there  are 
those  who  speak  of  the  degeneracy  of  modern  times,  and  presume 


THB  NOBTHEBN   COLONIES. 


197 


to  draw  comparisoiis  unfavoural;^  to  the  present  age,  between  the 
existing  state  of  publio  morals  and  theology,  and  that  of  a  former 
generation.     tMsi-l^'fwi  Xkuj  8f/)l>k»T  »?it  %3  «}.-iri.iiivtf»v-<i«  »rft  'lahi:  i 

The  first  public  intimation  of  any  change  in  feeling  or  opinion 
respecting  the  Salem  murders  appears  in  a  remonstrance  sent  in  to 
the  general  court,  at  its  October  session,  by  the  minister  of  Andover 
and  his  parishioners.  The  special  court  was  then  and  there  abol- 
ished, and  the  interval  between  that  period  and  the  month  of  Janu* 
ary,  (1698,)  when  the  regular  criminal  court  was  to  sit,  allowed 
time  for  reflection  on  the  part  of  the  excited  populace.  When  the 
new  cases  came  before  a  grand  jury,  twenty -six  indictments  (out  of 
fifty -six)  were  found  true  bills,  but  upon  trial,  there  were  but  three 
convictions.  Even  those  found  guilty  were  reprieved,  and  finally 
set  at  liberty. 

Mather  himself,  giving  his  own  ideas,  or  endorsing  those  of  an- 
other, confesses  that  the  matter  might  have  been  carried  too  far;  for, 
he  says:  "at  last  it  was  evidently  seen  that  there  must  be  a  stop 
put,  or  the  generation  of  the  children  of  God  would  fall  under  that 
condemnation."  And  again:  "It  cannot  be  imagin'd  that  in  a 
place  of  so  much  knowledge,  so  many,  in  so  small  a  compass  of 
land,  should  so  abominably  leap  into  the  devil's  lap  all  at  once." 


:  (; 


;i    i,        ... 

t;  .hi-  ^;  ?(>;  ■■•■'.    CiiAPTER    iv. 


1  )i 


OONTEOYBRST  CONCERNING  EETENUE. — SUSPECTED  NEGRO  RETOLI 

IN  NEW  TORE:   MOCK-TRIALS  OF  THE   ACCUSED:   BARBAROUS 

PUNISHMENTS.  —  CONNECTICUT:    THE    SAYBROOK  PLATFORM. 

— MASSACHUSETTS:  BURNING  OF  DEERFIELD:  DIFFICULTIES 


t 


BETWEEN   THE  GOVERNORS  AND   ASSEMBLIES. — NEW 
HAMPSHIRE:   ATTACK   ON   COCHECO:   EASTERN   IN- 
DIAN  WAR. —  RHODE  ISLAND:   ITS  COMMERCIAL 
_,    PROSPERITY.  —  NEW   JERSEY:   OPPOSITION  TO 
ARBITRARY  TAXATION:   SCOTCH  IMMIGRA- 
„u,         HON:   PROSPERITY  OF  THE  COLONY:   ITS 
.;,;...,  UNION    WITH    NEW    YORK. 


With  the  commencement  of  the  eighteenth  century  a  series  of 
movements  and  conflicts  commenced  in  the  colonies,  the  tendency 


198 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


of  which  was  directly  and  steadily  towards  the  establishment  of  those 
principles  which  resulted  in  their  final  independence.  In  New  York, 
under  the  governments  of  the  reckless  and  profligate  Lord  Corn- 
bury,  of  Hunter,  of  Cosby,  and  Clark,  vexed  questions  arose 
respecting  the  collection  and  application  of  the  colonial  revenues. 
The  public  monies  had  been  so  scandalously  appropriated  or  misap- 
plied by  Cornbury,  that,  under  his  successors,  care  was  taken  by  the 
assembly  to  secure  the  country  against  similar  loss  by  the  dishonesty 
or  incompetency  of  the  executive.  The  result  was  an  almost  con- 
stant altercation  between  the  house  and  the  governor's  council.  The 
attempt  by  the  latter  to  alter  or  amend  the  fiscal  provisions  of  the 
former  was  met  by  determined  resistance,  and  again  and  again  was 
the  assembly  dissolved  by  the  governor. 

During  the  administration  of  Clark,  who,  as  senior  member  of  the 
council,  took  the  office  of  lieutenant-governor  upon  the  death  of 
Crosby,  in  1736,  the  assembly  made  express  deslaration,  in  an  address 
to  the  governor,  of  the  principles  by  which  their  legislation  should 
be  governed,  in  the  following  language:  "We  therefore  beg  leave 
to  be  plain  with  your  honour,  and  hope  you  will  not  take  it  amiss 
when  we  tell  you,  that  you  are  not  to  expect  that  we  will  either 
raise  sums  unfit  to  be  raised,  or  put  what  we  shall  raise  into  the 
power  of  a  governor  to  misapply,  if  we  can  prevent  it;  nor  shall  we 
make  up  any  other  deficiencies  than  what  we  conceive  are  fit  and 
just  to  be  paid;  nor  continue  what  support  or  revenue  we  shall 
raise,  for  any  longer  time  than  one  year"  (a  provision  for  securing 
an  annual  session  of  the  assembly);  "nor  do  we  think  it  convenient 
to  do  even  that,  until  such  laws  are  passed  as  we  conceive  necessary 
for  the  inhabitants  of  the  colony,"  &c. 

In  the  year  1741,  scenes  occurred  in  New  York  of  a  character 
strikingly  illustrative  of  the  truth,  that  the  extreme  of  cruelty  ia 
generally  the  offspring  of  terror  and  cowardice.  A  number  of  fires 
took  place  at  short  intervals,  and  although  many  of  them  were 
plainly  attributable  to  accident,  suspicion  arose  that  a  plot  had 
been  formed  by  the  negroes,  of  whom  between  one  and  two  thousand 
were  there  held  as  slaves,  to  destroy  and  plunder  the  city.  The 
testimony  of  two  infamous  informers,  given  in  the  one  instance  to 
secure  a  Veward,  and  in  the  other,  to  escape  punishment  after  con- 
viction of  a  crime,  gave  form  and  directness  to  the  accusation.  As 
early  as  1712,  a  panic  somewhat  similar  had  resulted  in  the  death 
of  nineteen  victims  of  popular  rage  and  terror,  and  the  old  feeling 


THE   NORTHERN  COLONIES. 


199 


was  now  revived  with  tenfold  virulence.  A  great  number  of  arrests 
were  speedily  made,  and  when  the  trials  came  on,  so  strong  was 
the  public  prejudice  that,  of  the  eight  lawyers  who  then  constituted 
the  entire  legal  fraternity  of  the  city,  none  would  lend  his  services 
in  the  defence  of  a  prisoner.  "All  assisted  by  turns  on  behalf  of 
the  prosecutions.  The  prisoners,  who  had  no  counsel,  were  tried 
and  convicted  upon  most  insufficient  evidence.  The  lawyers  vied 
with  each  other  in  heaping  all  sorts  of  abuse  on  their  heads,  and 
Chief-Justice  Delancey,  in  passing  sentence,  vied  with  the  lawyers. 
Many  confessed,  to  save  their  lives,  and  then  accused  others.  Thir- 
teen unhappy  convicts  were  burned  at  the  stake,  eighteen  were 
hanged,  and  seventy-one  transported."* 

Two  of  the  victims  were  white  men ;  the  others  were  partly  slaves 
and  partly  free  blacks.  One  of  the  whites  appears  to  have  been 
condemned  rather  from  the  circumstance  that  he  was  a  Catholic, 
and,  as  such,  obnoxious  to  popular  prejudice,  than  from  any  respect- 
able evidence  of  guilt  There  is  no  probability  that  any  plot  had 
been  formed,  although  some  of  those  who  received  punishment  may 
have  been  guilty  of  incendiarism. 

The  history  of  Connecticut,  during  the  first  half  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  presents  little  of  historical  importance,  except  its  connec- 
tion with  the  other  provinces  in  military  operations,  elsewhere 
briefly  described.  The  most  important  local  measure  of  the  period 
was  the  establishment  of  "the  Say  brook  Platform,"  by  an  eccle- 
siastical convention,  called  in  1708,  by  a  legislative  act.  "At  a 
subsequent  session  of  the  legislature,  it  was  enacted  that  all  the 
churches  united  according  to  the  Platform,  should  be  owned  as 
established  by  law,  allowing,  however,  to  other  churches  the  right 
of  exercising  worship  and  discipline  in  their  own  way,  according  to 
their  consciences."f 

In  the  frontier  war  with  the  French  and  Indians,  which  lingered 
through  the  latter  portion  of  the  seventeenth  century,  and  after  a 
short  interval  of  peace,  broke  out  again  in  1704,  the  border  towns 
of  Massachusetts  suffered  severely.  In  February  of  the  latter  year, 
a  party  of  three  hundred  French  and  Indians,  the  former  under 
command  of  Hertel  de  Rouville,  attacked  the  town  of  Deerfield  in 
the  night.  The  place  had  been  partially  protected  by  palisades,  and 
about  twenty  soldiers  were  quartered  there,  but  these  had  been 

♦  Hildreth's  History  of  the  United  States, 
f  Hale's  History  of  the  United  States. 


■^1 


lii 


f 


200 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTOBT. 


grosalj  negligent  in  not  mounting  guard,  and  the  surprise  was  com- 
plete. The  popular  narrative  of  Mr.  Williams,  the  minister,  gives 
a  vivid  description  of  the  calamity.  "Not  long  before  the  break  of 
day,"  he  says,  "  the  enemy  came  in  like  a  flood  upon  us,  our  watch 
being  unfaithful."  The  inhabitants  made  what  resistance  they  could, 
but  such  was  the  suddenness  of  the  assault,  and  the  superiority  of 
the  enemy's  force,  that  the  strife  was  soon  at  an  end.  The  town 
was  burned ;  forty -seven  of  its  defenders  perished  on  the  spot;  and  a 
great  number  of  prisoners — men,  women,  and  children — were  marched 
off  through  a  deep  snow  towards  Canada — "nineteen  of  whom," 
says  the  narrator,  "were  afterwards  murdered  by  the  way,  and  two 
starved  to  death  near  Coos,  in  a  time  of  great  scarcity  or  famine 
the  Indians  underwent  there."  Mrs.  Williams  was  among  the  vic- 
tims on  the  route.  Those  who  finally  reached  their  place  of  destina- 
tion, were  kept  prisoners  for  several  years.  Fifty-seven  of  them 
were  sent  back  to  Boston  in  1706. 

The  operations  against  Canada,  in  which  the  New  England  colo- 
nies were  jointly  engaged,  during  the  few  years  ^cceeding  this 
period,  have  already  been  described  in  the  history  of  the  French 
Canadian  settlements.  The  long-continued  war  had  greatly  checked 
the  growth  of  the  exposed  colonies,  and,  at  the  conclusion  of  peace 
in  1718,  Massachusetts  was  left  burdened  with  a  heavy  debt. 

For  many  years  thereafter,  the  general  assembly  of  this  colony 
was  in  continual  controversy  with  a  succession  of  royal  governors 
respecting  the  establishment  of  a  fixed  salary,  which  should  render 
the  position  of  the  latter  more  independent  The  demand  for  this 
measure  was  firmly  refused,  and  it  was  finally  settled  that  the  gov- 
ernor should  be  paid  only  by  an  annual  appropriation. 

For  the  important  colonial  expedition  against  Canada  in  1745, 
and  the  fall  of  Louisburg,  see  the  articles  upon  Acadia,  the  settle- 
ment and  history  of  Canada,  &c.,  under  the  title  of  the  French  iu 
America.  ''  '••  n>  (  ■>  ' 

We  find  little  of  public  interest  to  record  of  the  sparsely  populated 
colony  of  New  Hampshire  from  the  time  of  its  separation  from  Mas- 
sachusetts, at  the  close  of  Andros'  administration,  up  to  the  events 
which  immediately  preceded  the  American  revolution.  Many 
strange  tales  are  told  of  incidents  connected  with  the  Indian  wars, 
the  frontier  position  of  the  colony  rendering  it  peculiarly  liable  to 
hostile  incursion.  Among  these  is  the  account  given  of  the  attack 
upon  Cocheco,  or  Dover,  in  1689.     One  Major  Waldron  bad  com- 


THX  MOBTHEBN   COLONIES. 


201 


Diand  of  a  garrison  sufficient  to  protect  the  poet,  if  due  care  had  been 
taken  to  guard  against  surprise. 

The  enemy  were  let  in,  in  the  night,  by  two  squaws  who  had 
obtained  permission  to  sleep  in  the  fortified  houses.  "  The  English 
were  completely  ^overpowered,  fifty -two  were  killed  or  carried  away 
captive;  among  the  former  was  Major  Waldron.  The  old  warrior 
(be  was  eighty  years  of  age)  defended  himself  with  astonishing 
strength  and  courage,  but  was  finally  struck  down  from  behind. 
Bruised  and  mangled,  he  was  placed  in  a  chair  upon  a  table,  and 
the  savages,  gathering  round^glutted  their  long-cherished  vengeance 
by  cutting  and  torturing  the  helpless  captive.  He  was  in  bad  odour 
with  thie  Indians  for  having,  as  they  alleged,  defirauded  them  in  for- 
mer trading  transactions^  It  w(ts  reported  among  them  that  he  used 
to  '  count  his  fist  as  weighing  a  pound,  also  that  his  accounts  were 
not  crossed  out  according  to  agreement'  Placed,  as  above-mentioned, 
upon  a  table,  some  of  them  'in  turns  gashed  his  naked  breast,  say- 
ing, I  cross  out  my  account  Then,  cutting  a  joint  from  his  finger, 
would  say:  will  your  fist  weigh  a  pound  now?'  They  continued 
these  cruelties  until  he  fainted  firom  loss  of  blood,  when  they  dis- 
patched him."* 

The  expeditions  of  this  period  against  the  eastern  Indians  and 
French,  are  described  in  the  quaint  narrative  of  Colonel  Benjamin 
Church,  who  closed  his  military  career  in  these  services.  In  the  three 
years'  Indian  war,  which  broke  out  in  1722,  the  settlements  in  New 
Hampshire  were  constantly  endangered,  and  on  many  occasions 
suffered  severely  from  savage  depredations  Of  all  the  events  of 
the  war,  none  was  more  celebrated  in  its  time,  than  the  expedition 
under  Captain  John  Lovewell,  and  the  fight  at  Figwacket,  on  the 
Saco,  in  which  he  and  more  than  half  his  companions  perished. 

The  colony  of  Rhode  Island,  under  the  charter  of  1663,  resumed 
upon  the  deposition  of  Andros,  continued  to  prosper.  Its  position 
secured  it  against  danger  from  Indian  invasion,  and  its  excellent 
harbours  gave  opportunity  to  the  enterprising  population  for  exten- 
sive commercial  operations.  A  large  back  country  was  supplied 
with  foreign  goods  from  Newport.  It  is  even  said  to  have  been  a 
matter  of  serious  question,  in  early  times,  whether  New  York  could 
ever  compete  with  this  prosperous  sea-port;  so  true  it  is  that  a 
stimulus  to  enterprise  and  exertion  is  far  more  important  to  the 
welfare  of  a  country  than  the  greatest  natural  advantages.     The 

*  Indian  Races  in  America. 


202 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OP  HISTORY. 


rugged  soil  of  New  England  has  nourished  a  race,  the  field  of  whose 
exertions  is  boundless:  the  inhabitants  of  the  barren  island  of  Nan 
tucket  have  been,  so  to  speak,  driven  to  employ  their  energies  in 
enterprise,  than  which  none  has  proved  more  permanently  profitable. 

New  Jersey  was  among  the  foremost  and  most  earnest  of  the 
northern  colonies,  in  resistance  to  arbitrary  power  on  the  part  of 
her  governors.  The  imposition  of  a  duty,  and  the  levy  of  a  tax  by 
Andros,  when  he  was  first  commissioned  by  the  Duke  of  York,  was 
the  occasion  of  a  remonstrance,  in  which  the  standing  claim,  that 
taxes  should  not  be  imposed  withojat  the  people's  assent,  was 
strongly  and  successfully  urged. 

Under  the  management  of  Penn  and  his  associates,  a  new  impetus 
was  given  to  the  prosperity  of  the  colony  by  the  immigration  of  a 
vast  number  of  the  persecuted  Presbyterians  from  Scotland.  They 
formed  a  sober  and  industrious  population,  well  fitted  to  mingle 
upon  terms  of  sympathy  and  brotherhood  with  the  Quaker  inhabit- 
ants and  the  descendants  of  the  Puritans,  by  whom  the  country 
was  peopled.  Glowing  accounts  are  given  of  the  rapidity  with  which 
the  lands  were  brought  under  cultivation,  of  the  efficient  means 
which  were  taken  to  secure  the  blessings  of  free  education,  and  of 
the  general  thrift  and  prosperity  of  the  colony. 

New  Jersey,  together  with  New  York  and  the  New  England  colo- 
nies, was  brought  under  the  domination  of  Sir  Edmund  Andros  in 
1688.  For  many  years  after  the  revolution  of  that  date,  its  affairs 
remained  in  an  unsettled  state;  but  in  1702,  a  surrender  of  their 
legislative  powers  by  the  proprietors,  resulted  in  the  temporary 
union  of  the  province  with  New  York,  then  under  the  government 
of  Cornbury.  .  .  ,  ,■■.        ... 


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CHAUTER  OF  THS  COLONT  OF  OBORGIA. — FIRST  ARRIVAL  OF 
COLONISTS. — SETTLEMENT  OF   SAVANNAH. — INDIAN   NEGO- 
TIATIONS.— MARY    MU80R0VB. — CESSION    OF    INDIAN 
CLAIMS. — CHARACTER  OF  IMMIGRANTS  TO  GEORGIA. 
— TRAFFIC  IN  NEGROES  PROHIBITED. — FRED- 
ERICA  FOUNDED. — WAR  WITH  SPAIN. 

As  late  as  the  year  1732,  when  plans  for  the  settlement  of  the  cuan- 
try  included  between  the  Savannah  and  Altamaha  rivers  were  first 
actively  undertaken,  the  whole  district,  together  with  the  adjoining 
territory,  now  included  in  the  state  of  Georgia,  remained  untenanted, 
except  by  savages,  and  a  debatable  ground  between  the  English 
colonies  and  those  of  Spain.  In  the  month  of  June,  in  the  year 
above-mentioned,  James  Oglethorpe,  with  twenty  associates,  in  Eng- 
land, obtained  a  charter  from  George  II.,  for  the  foundation  of  a 
colony  in  this  unoccupied  region — the  special  object  of  the  grantees 
being  to  provide  an  asylum  for  poor  and  imprisoned  debtors,  for  the 
subjects  of  religious  persecutions,  and  for  all  standing  in  need  of 
charity,  who  might,  by  removal  to  a  new  country,  be  rendered 
eventually  self-dependent,  useful,  and  prosperous. 

The  leader  in  this  enterpriae  was  a  soldier  and  a  scholar,  and, 
although  yet  a  young  man,  was  possessed  of  experience  in  public 
life,  and  maturity  of  judgment,  which  well  qualified  him  for  his 
responsible  undertaking.  He  had  been  for  several  years  engaged  in 
efforts  for  the  amelioration  of  the  condition  of  the  multitudes  con- 
fined for  debt,  in  Great  Britain,  and  his  exertions  had  awakened 
much  attention  among  the  benevolent  and  philanthropic.  He  met 
with  a  ready  response  to  iiis  call  for  funds  to  aid  in  the  transporta- 
tion and  establishment  of  the  members  of  his  new  colony. 


II! 


I 
In 


20i 


THE  PEOPLE*S  BOOK  OF  HI8T0BT. 


Oglethorpe  sailed  for  America  in  November,  1782,  with  one 
hundred  and  thirteen  emigranta.  He  first  landed  at  Charleston, 
where  provisions  were  provided  bj  the  inhabitants  for  the  present 
support  of  the  voyagers,  and  boats  for  their  conveyance  to  their 
new  homes. 

The  site  occupied  by  the  present  city  of  Savannah,  on  Yamacraw 
Bluff,  was  fixed  upon  for  the  first  settlement  Elevated  above  the 
surrounding  level,  a  few  miles  from  the  entrance  of  the  river,  thii 
position  commands  a  beautiful  and  extensive  view  in  the  direction 
of  the  sea.  A  tribe  of  the  Muscogees,  or  Lower  Creeks,  dwelt  in 
the  vicinity.  These  "were  peaceably  disposed  towards  the  white 
settlers,  but  the  governor  of  the  infant  colony  thought  it  advisable 
to  put  himself  upon  safe  ground  as  regarded  the  Indian  claims. 
He  therefore  secured  the  serviaes  of  a  half-breed  woman,  named 
Mnry  Musgrove,  who  could  speak  English,  and,  by  her  media. ion, 
brought  about  a  conference  with  the  chiefs  of  the  tribe. 

Mary  had  formerly  married  a  white  trader  from  Carolina.  Be- 
sides her  usefulness  as  an  interpreter,  she  had  such  influence  over 
her  tribe,  that  Oglethorpe  thought  it  worth  his  while  to  purchase 
her  services  at  the  rate  of  one  hundred  pounds  a  year.  She  be- 
came, afterwards,  a  source  of  no  httie  danger  and  annoyance  to  the 
English  .    !ii  '.' 'i'ii-.fit>'  ,!.':;;'i'.i-'i '  >i'*    ■  •■       •■'  '  ■ ''■  ■' 

Fiftj  chiefs  of  the  Creek  nation  were  assembl"? '  at  the  place  of 
conference,  and  Tomochiohi,  the  most  noted  among  those  then 
known  to  the  settlers,  made  an  amicable  speech,  proffering,  at  the 
same  time,  a  present  of  a  buffiilo-skin,  adorned  with  eagles'  feathers."^ 
By  the  terms  of  the  treaty,  the  king  of  England  was  acknowledged 
by  the  Indians  as  their  sovereign,  and  provisions  were  made  for  the 
preservation  of  peace  and  quiet  between  them  and  the  settlers. 

"The  lands  lying  between  the  Savannah  and  Altamaha  were 
made  over  to  the  English,  with  all  the  islands  on  that  coast,  except 
St  Catharine's  and  two  others,  which  were  reserved  for  the  use  of 
the  Indians  as  bathing  and  fishing  stations.  A  tract  was  also  set 
apart  for  the  latter  to  encamp  upon  when  they  visited  their  white 
friends,  a  little  above  the  Yamacraw  Bluff"." 

The  liberal  offers  of  the  patrons  and  proprietors  of  the  new  col- 
ony of  Georgia — religious  freedom,  (to  the  exclusion,  however,  of 
Papists,)  personal  security,  free  grants  of  land,  free  pa8.sage,  and  a 
temporary   supply   of   provision — proved    strong   inducements  to 

*  Indian  Races  of  Amerioa. 


THX  BOUTHEBN  COLONIES. 


206 


immigration.  Not  only  the  poor  outcasta  who  had  gladly  availed 
themselves  of  the  assistance  of  the  charitable,  thronged  to  the  settle- 
ment, but  a  thrifty  and  industrious  population  poured  in  from 
Scotland,  Switzerland,  and  Germany.  A  considerable  body  of 
Moravians,  from  the  latter  country,  arrived  in  March,  1734,  and 
with  the  assistance  cordially  proffered  by  Oglethorpe,  commenced  a 
settlement  at  the  tnouth  of  Ebenezer  creek,  which  empties  into  the 
Savannah,  a  considerable  distance  above  the  capital.  The  Scotch, 
who  arrived  in  the  following  year,  settled  at  Darien,  called  by  them 
New  Inverness. 

In  February,  1786,  the  governor,  returning  from  England,  whither 
he  had  voyaged  to  procure  contributions  and  recruits  for  his  colony, 
brought  with  him  about  three  hundred  immigrants.  A  portion 
of  these  were  Moravians,  and  among  them  was  the  celebrated  John 
Wesley,  who  came  out  fired  with  religious  zeal  for  the  conversion 
of  the  Indians. 

A  general  spirit  of  good-will,  peace,  and  content,  seemed  to  per- 
vade the  community.  The  powers  of  government  were,  it  is  true, 
vested  in  the  trustees,  under  the  charter,  but  these  benevolent  indi- 
viduals, who  received  no  emoluments  for  their  services,  appear  to 
have  had  the  interests  of  the  colony  at  heart.  A  vain  attempt  was 
made,  indeed,  to  secure  the  settlement  against  the  evils  of  slavery, 
the  importation  of  negroes  being  forbidden ;  but  within  a  few  years 
the  inhabitants  became  convinced  that  the  condition  of  their  neigh- 
bours, who  availed  themselves  of  the  labour  of  blacks,  was  more 
prosperous  and  promising  than  their  own,  and  the  natural  result 
of  this  conclusion,  was  the  permanent  establishment  of  the  present 
servile  system. 

In  February,  (1736,)  the  town  of  Frederica,  on  St.  Simon's  Island, 
was  laid  out,  under  the  superintendence  of  the  governor,  in  person, 
advantage  being  taken  of  an  old  Indian  clearing  in  that  locality. 
From  St.  Simon's,  Oglethorpe  extended  his  journey  southward, 
through  the  inland  channels,  which  border  the  whole  coast,  taking 
possession  of  the  country  in  the  name  of  the  king,  and  marking  out 
sites  for  defensive  posts.  The  English  claim  included  all  north  of  the 
St.  John's,  while,  on  the  other  hand,  the  Spaniards  asserted  title  to 
the  whole  of  Georgia,  and  even  included  in  their  demands  a  portion 
of  South  Carolina,  limiting  their  territory  by  St.  Helena  Sound. 

These,  and  other  conflicting  claims,  resulted  in  war  between  the 
two  nations.     Oglethorpe  having  received  a  military  commission 


*il 


206 


TIIK   PEOTLE'B    BOOK  OF  HIBTORT. 


M  brigadier-general  over  the  forces  of  Georgia  and  South  Carolina, 
busied  himself  in  precautionary  measures  for  the  defence  of  the 
colonies.  The  fort  at  Frederica  was  completed  and  strengthened,  na 
forming  one  of  the  most  important  strongholds  on  the  coast  Ilig 
special  attention  was  devoted  to  a  confirmation  of  the  good* will  of 
the  natives,  among  whom  Spanish  agents  had  been  for  some  time 
occupied  in  sowing  distrust  and  suspicion.  Th^Creeks,  however 
still  retained  the  greatest  personal  attachment  to  Oglethorpe.  He 
was  among  the  few  officials  who  kept  faith  with  them,  and  they 
could  not  fail  to  appreciate  his  heartiness  and  sincerity.  In  1789 
he  attended  a  great  meeting  of  the  chiefs,  far  in  the  interior,  on  the 
Chattahoochee,  where  he  smoked  the  calumet  of  peace  with  the 
nssetnbly,  and  renewed  the  old  treaties  of  friendship  and  mutual 
protection. 


1  .' 


vjx'liAiirxJuA    iJt* 


OOLETHORPS'S  SZPSDITION   AGAINST  ST.   ADOUBTINl:    8IE0S 
OF  THE  TOWN:    FAILURE  AND  RETURN  OF  THE  IXPSDITION, 
—  SPANISH    INVASION   IN   1742. — DEFENCE    OF    FRED- 
ERICA. — STRATAOEX    OP    OOLSTUORPB. — THOMAS 
BOSOMWORTH:    HIS   INTRIGUES   WITH    THE   IN- 
DIANS;   LITIGATION    WITH  THE  COLONT. — 
GEORGIA    A    ROTAL    PROVINCE. 


With  the  commencement  of  the  year  1740,  an  expedition  was 
undertaken  by  General  Oglethorf)e  against  St  Augustine.  He 
readily  reduced  two  small  Spanish  outposts,  and  encamped  liis 
forces  in  the  vicinity  until  he  could  procure  rtJinforcemente  from 
Carolina.  These  arrived  alM)Ut  the  close  of  May,  and,  with  no  less 
than  one  thuiisand  regiilur  troops  and  militia,  and  a  cunsiderable 
body  of  Creek  allies,  lie  laid  siege  to  the  town.  The  undertaking 
resulted  in  diaapiujintnient  St  Augustine  was  well  garrison(;d  and 
fortified;  the  besieging  tr(H)ps  were  reduced  in  numbers  and  effi- 
ciency by  desertion  and  by  the  (li.senses  incident  to  the  season,  and 
tlic  general  was  compelled  to  raise  the  siege  and  to  retreat  into 
Georgia. 


THE   SUOTIIERN   COLUNIEB. 


207 


No  f\irther  hostile  demonstrntion,  of  any  importance,  was  made 
by  either  colony  for  a  space  of  two  years,  at  the  end  of  which 
period  the  inhabitants  of  Carolina  and  Georgia  were  alarmed  by 
reports  of  the  approach  of  a  large  Spanish  fleet.  The  force  em- 
barked at  the  W<  8t  Indies  for  the  conquest  of  the  Southern  English 
colonies,  is  set  down  at  some  three  thousand  men;  the  fleet  num- 
bered over  thirty  sail.  Oglethorpe,  who  could  procure  no  aid  from 
Carolina,  exhibited  great  bravery,  energy,  and  good  generalship  in 
the  defence  of  Qeorgia.  lie  reinforced  the  garrison  at  Fort  Wil- 
liam, on  Cumberland  island,  already  beset  by  the  enemy,  and  then 
betook  himself,  with  his  main  force— greatly  inferior  to  that  of  the 
assailants — to  his  most  defensible  position,  at  Frederioa. 

Thither  he  was  pursued  by  the  Spanish  fleet,  which  entered  the 
inlet  on  the  6th  of  July,  (1742,)  in  spite  of  the  English  batteries, 
and  effected  a  landing  on  the  island.  Fortunately,  the  only  road 
leading  to  Frederica,  was  defensible,  being  flanked  by  a  swamp  on 
one  side  and  a  thick  forest  on  the  other.  Several  attempts  to  force 
a  passage  were  met  by  an  obstinate  and  successful  resistance.  Some 
days  later,  by  a  pretended  dispatch,  designedly  allowed  to  fall  into 
the  hands  of  the  enemy,  Oglethorpe  succeeded  in  deceiving  the 
Spanish  commander  into  a  belief  that  large  reinforcements  were 
momentarily  expected  from  Carolina.  This  idea  was  strengthened 
by  the  appearance  of  some  small  vessels  off  the  coast. 

The  Spaniards  made  one  more  vain  attack  upon  the  position  of 
the  English,  and  then  rdembarked — the  invasion  having  proved 
as  fruitless  as  that  against  St.  Augustine,  in  1740.  Oglethorpe  bade 
a  final  adieu  to  the  colonies  in  the  year  following  these  events.  He 
lived  to  a  venerable  old  age,  respected  and  admired  for  every  qual- 
ity, moral  and  personal,  that  can  command  esteem  and  conciliate 
good-will. 

After  his  departure,  the  provisions  against  slavery  soon  became  a 
dead  letter,  and  there  were  not  wanting  advocates  of  the  system 
among  the  most  noted  religionists  of  the  day.  George  Whitefield, 
whose  preaching  had  already  given  him  a  wide  celebrity,  expressed 
himself  in  its  favour,  trusting  that  the  negro  race  might  be  benef.tted 
by  translation  from  a  savage  life  to  the  society  of  Christians.  The 
number  of  white  colonists,  at  this  period,  was  probably  not  far  from 
three  thousand. 

"The  year  1749  was  memorable  for  a  most  audacious  attempt  on 
the  part  of  one   Thomas  Bosomworth   to   aggrandize  himself  by 
Vol.  IV.— 42 


iLlM 


208 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


attaining  a  supremacy  over  the  Creeks.  He  had  been,  formerly,  a 
chaplain  in  Oglethorpe's  regiment,  and  had  married  Mary  Mus- 
grove,  his  half-breed  interpreter.  In  December,  of  1747,  this  man 
fell  in  with  a  company  of  chiefs,  belonging  to  the  nation,  then  on 
a  visit  to  Frederica;  and  persuaded  them  to  sign  certain  articles, 
acknowledging  one  of  their  number,  named  Malatche  Opiya  Meco, 
as  rightful  king  over  the  whole  Creek  nation.  Bosomworth  then 
procured  from  Malatche  a  conveyance,  for  certain  considerations — 
among  other  things,  a  large  quantity  of  ammunition  and  clothing — 
of  the  islands  formerly  owned  by  the  Indians,  to  himself  and  his 
wife  Mary,  their  heirs  and  assigns,  'as  long  as  the  sun  shall  shine, 
or  the  waters  run  in  the  rivers,  for  ever.'  This  deed  was  regularly 
witnessed,  proved  before  a  justice  of  the  peace,  and  recorded  in  du3 
form.  Bosomworth  made  some  efforts  to  stock  and  improve  these 
islands,  but,  his  ambition  becoming  aroused  by  success  in  his  first 
intrigue,  he  entered  upon  one  much  more  extensive.  By  his  per- 
suasions, his  wife  now  made  the  extraordinary  claim  that  she  way 
Malatche's  elder  sister,  and  entitled  to  regal  authority  over  the 
whole  Creek  territorv."* 

No  matter  how  shallow  a  claim  may  be,  if  openly  and  obstinately 
persisted  in,  it  will  generally  obtain  credit  with  some.  A  great  dis- 
turbance ensued,  and,  at  one  time,  the  town  of  Savannah  was  in  no 
small  danger  from  the  Indians  of  Mary's  party,  who  appeared  in 
defence  of  her  asserted  rights.  A  long  and  wearisome  litigation  iu 
the  courts  of  Great  Britain  was  maintained  by  Bosomworth  and  his 
brother,  Adam,  the  Indian  agent  in  Carolina,  with  the  colony  of 
Georgia.  Final  decision  was  not  rendered  until  1769,  when  Mary 
and  her  husband  had  their  title  to  St.  Catharine's  island  confirmed. 
They  passed  the  remainder  of  their  lives  in  quiet  possession  of  the 
property. 

Prior  to  this  period,  in  1754,  a  royal  government  had  succeeded 
the  surrender  of  their  chartered  rights  by  the  trustees.  The  colony 
was  not  exempt  from  the  usual  difficulties,  jealousies,  discontent,  and 
hardships  which  so  generally  beset  new  settlements,  and  to  which 
Georgia  was  peculiarly  exposed  from  the  heterogeneous  character 
of  its  inhabitants.  The  only  important  events  in  which  she  bore  a 
part  during  the  further  continuance  of  the  colonial  system,  are  con- 
nected with  the  Cherokee  wars,  of  which  a  brief  account  will  be 
given  hereafter. 

*  Indian  Roeea  of  America. 


THE  SOUTHEBN   COLONIES. 


209 


Ij  <ui  iZi.  r  X  ju  ti    I  i  i. 


80UTH   CAROLINA:    RELIQIOIJS  GONXROTERSIES;   ARCHDALE'3 
ADMINISXRATION:   MOORE'S  EXPEDITION  AGAINST  ST.  ADOUS- 
TINE:   INVASION  OP  INDIAN  TERRITORY:   PRENCH   PLEET 
ON   THE, COAST:.  CULTURE   OP   RICE:   INDIAN   CONSPIRACY: 
REVOLT  AGAINST  THE   PROPRIETORS:   THE  CHARTER 
DECLARED  PORPEIT:   SOUTH    CAROLINA   A  /-OYAL 
PROVINCE. — NORTH  CAROLINA:   POLITICAL  DIS- 
TURBANCES:   A   PROSPEROUS  ANARCHY:   SEP-.    ,, 
ARATION    PROM    SOUTH    CAROLINA. 


From  the  period  of  the  revolution,  in  1688,  until  about  the  close 
of  the  century,  South  Carolina,  although  steadily  increasing  in  pop- 
ulation, wealth,  and  political  importance,  was  much  disturbed  by 
religious  dissensions.  The  sober  and  peaceable  Huguenots  were  in 
favour  with  the  colonial  proprietors,  but  a  strong  opposition  arose 
in  the  province  to  the  admission  of  these  foreigners  to  equal  privi- 
leges with  those  of  English  descent  and  attached  to  the  established 
church.  This  controversy  distracted,  in  a  greater  or  less  degree,  the 
successive  administrations  of  Sothel,  Ludwell,  and  Smith.  The 
appointment  of  John  Archdale,  a  Quaker,  and  a  man  of  generosity  and 
liberality,  in  the  year  1695,  gave  promise  of  a  better  state  of  things. 

This  worthy  governor,  by  moderate  but  effective  regulations,  suc- 
ceeded in  quieting  the  turbulent  factions  of  the  colony,  and  in  con- 
ciliating, by  protection  and  kind  offices,  the  neighbouring  tribes  of 
Indians  and  the  Spanish  colonists  of  Florida.  The  dangerous 
shoals  of  Cape  Fear,  lying  nearly  out  of  sight  of  the  low  shore,  have 
always  been  the  dread  of  navigators  upon  the  coast,  and  in  these 
early  times  the  want  of  proper  instruments  for  determining  the 
longitude,  rendered  their  condition  much  more  perilous.  It  was  no 
small  blessing  to  the  unfortunate  mariners  who,  at  this  period,  from 
time  to  time,  suffered  shipwreck  on  the  cape,  to  meet  with  kind 
treatment,  shelter,  and  assistance  from  the  coast  Indians.  From 
first  to  last,  the  aborigines  of  America  have  shown  themselves  ready 
to  reciprocate  kindness  and  good-will.  In  almost  every  instance 
when  they  have  made  unprovoked  attacks  upon  the  whites,  the 
cause  can  be  traced  to  some  error  or  misconception. 


•■'\ik 


Hi 


210 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  U18T0KY. 


When  Archdale  left  the  colony,  fornaer  dissensions  were  revived, 
although  he  still  exerted  all  bis  influence  with  the  proprietors  for 
the  maintenance  of  religious  liberty.  The  appointment  of  James 
Moore,  represented  as  a  grasping  and  selfish  man,  to  the  office  of 
governor,  was  little  conducive  to  quiet  and  prosperity. 

Under  his  administration,  war  having  broken  out  between  Eng- 
land and  Spain,  a  colonial  expedition  was  planned  against  St.  Au- 
gustine. Bound  on  this  enterprise,  Moore  sailed  for  Florida,  in  the 
month  of  September,  1702,  at  the  head  of  about  six  hundred  volun- 
teers. He  succeeded  in  capturing  the  town,  but  the  strong  military 
fortress  constituted  a  safe  and  defensible  place  of  retreat  for  the 
Spaniards.  While  waiting  the  arrival  of  artillery  for  the  reduction 
of  the  fort,  several  Spanish  vessels  arrived  off  the  harbour,  and 
Moore  was  obliged  to  beat  a  retreat  by  land,  leaving  his  vessels, 
stores,  &c.,  to  the  enemy.  The  expense  of  the  fruitless  undertaking 
was  defrayed  by  a  large  issue  of  colonial  bills  of  credit 

In  the  month  of  December,  of  the  same  year,  Governor  Moore 
retrieved  his  credit  as  a  general,  by  a  successful  march  through  the 
extensive  intervening  wilderness,  and  a  descent  upon  the  Indians 
and  Spanish,  on  the  coast  of  Appalache.  The  hostile  settlements 
of  that  whole  neighbourhood  were  broken  up.  The  Spaniards  were 
enabled  to  defend  the  fort  of  Ayavalla,  but  the  assailants  burned 
the  adjoining  church.  Between  one  and  two  hundred  Indians  were 
carried  off  captives,  to  be  afterwards  sold  as  slaves. 

In  1706,  the  Episcopal  establishment  was  extended  to  South  Car- 
olina, but  the  condition  of  dissenters  was,  at  the  same  time,  rendered 
more  safe  by  a  definite  toleration  in  their  religion,  and  security  of 
their  civil  rights.  Sir  Nathaniel  Johnson  at  this  time  held  the 
office  of  governor,  and  had  an  opportunity  to  distinguish  himself  by 
a  brave  and  determined  defence  of  the  coast  against  a  French  fleet 
sent  out  from  Cuba  to  invade  the  country.  The  enemy  met  with 
heavy  loss  at  every  attempt  to  land,  and  one  of  their  vessels  fell 
into  the  hands  of  the  colonists. 

The  culture  of  rice,  introduced  a  number  of  years  previous,  had 
by  this  time  become  extensive,  and  proved  a  source  of  profit  to  the 
planter  unequalled  by  any  previous  agricultur»<l  enterprise.  Indigo, 
an  article  which  has  been  of  late  years  neglected,  was  also  found  a 
profitable  crop  by  the  early  planters  of  the  southern  colonies. 

In  the  spring  of  1715,  the  machinations  of  the  French  and  Span- 
iards stirred  up  a  most  dangerous  conspiracy  of  the  Yemasces, 


J 


THE  SOUTHERN   COLONIES. 


211 


Ucbes,  and  other  Southern  tribes,  against  the  English  settlements. 
The  detached  and  unprotected  villages  and  plantations  of  the  fron- 
tier were  ravaged,  and  some  four  hundred  of  the  inhabitants  per- 
ished, or  were  reserved  for  the  worse  fate  of  prisoners  to  the  savages. 
The  main  body  of  the  Indian  confederates  was  finally  defeated  by 
the  colonial  forces,  under  Governor  Charles  Craven,  near  the 
Salkiehachie. 

The  neglect  of  the  proprietors  to  furnish  any  means  of  defence  for 
the  colony,  their  refusal  to  make  remuneration  for  the  heavy  expense 
of  the  late  Indian  war,  oppressive  regulations,  opposition  to  neces- 
sary enactments,  and  the  maintenance  in  office  of  obnoxious  indi- 
viduals, resulted  in  a  popular  out-break  against  their  authority. 
The  assembly,  in  1719,  chose  James  Moore  as  governor,  and  openly 
defied  the  proprietary  officers.  In  the  year  following,  the  matter 
was  examined  into  by  the  English  government;  the  charter  to  the 
proprietors  was  declared  forfeited;  and  Francis  Nicholson  received 
the  appointment  of  governor.  The  colony  continued,  thenceforth,  a 
royal  province.  All  the  claims  of  the  proprietors  to  rent  and  other 
perquisites  were,  some  years  later,  acquired  by  purchase  on  the  part 
of  the  crown.  Friendly  relations  with  the  neighbouring  Indian 
tribes  were  solemnly  established  in  1780.  The  Cherokees,  at  a 
great  council  held  at  Nequassee,  in  the  Tennessee  valley,  concluded 
and  signed,  by  the  marks  of  their  principal  chiefs,  a  treaty  of  alli- 
ance with  the  English.  Seven  of  their  number  were  taken  to  Eng- 
land, that  their  reports,  on  their  return,  might  impress  the  tribe  with 
some  adequate  conception  of  the  number  and  power  of  their  allies. 

The  scattered  population  of  North  Carolina,  which  was  first  in- 
cluded under  the  same  grant  with  the  southern  province,  was 
governed,  if  government  it  could  be  called,  by  a  deputy  from  the 
governor  of  South  Carolina.  The  greatest  freedom  of  opinion  and 
liberty  of  action  prevailed,  but  affairs  went  on  very  quietly  until 
the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century,  when  an  attempt  at  the 
establishment  of  the  Church  of  England  aroused  an  extremely  hos- 
tile spirit  among  the  Quakers  and  other  dissenters,  who  constituted 
no  small  portion  of  the  inhabitants.  A  conflict  of  claims,  in  1705, 
between  Glover  and  Cary,  for  the  executive  office — the  one  being 
chosen  directly  by  the  proprietors,  the  other  by  the  governor  of 
South  Carolina — gave  fresh  impetus  to  a  party  strife  theretofore 
unknown  in  the  colony. 

For  a  number  of  years,  the  community  appears  to  have  existed 


iijd. 


212 


THE  PBOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HIBTOKY. 


almost  withodt  law;  but  an  immigration  of  indaBtrious  and  frugal 
Swiss,  Germans,  and  other  Europeans^  continued  to  extend  civiliza- 
tion through  the  comparatively  barren  district.  The  province  was 
already  noted  for  its  large  exportation  of  lumber,  pitch,  tar,  and 
turpentine.  In  1729,  when,  as  before  mentioned,  the  disputes  be- 
tween the  inhabitants  of  Carolina  and  the  proprietors  were  settled 
by  an  assumption,  or  purchase,  of  the  rights  of  the  latter  by  the 
crown,  North  Carolina  was  first  constituted  an  entirely  separate 
province,  the  governor  being  selected  by  royal  appointment,  and  the 
legislative  assembly  being  chosen  by  the  people. 


'.rMi   ■<!     -1 


^rt'  ^yi-:---  -'■'-" 


■T,  ,   .7<^.,,-t, 


'?!   \   I     ft!    ,7f;'/f('>^J»3 


•  f 


.!t  n!  f'i'T?f!->  •♦/■'/ 


CU    A    D  T   P  D      T  12* 
xiiiriiiiXi    xv. 


>'i1'T~itq    •»!> 


rf'tr  h'tn; 


i';^X''  y.r  .'? 


TIROIKIA  UNBBK  HOTAl  OOYSSNOKS:  STitI  OF  THB' COIONT: 
CHURCH  C0NTEOTBR8I18.^PBNN8TLTiNlA  A  ROTAL  PROT- 

INCJ:  TH8  PROPRIETOR   REINSTATED:    POLIOT  OP  PENN. 
'       -^DELAWARE:    DEATH  OP  PBNM:    HIS  8U0CB880R8, — 
''         VARTtAND;    ITS  CATHOLIC  POPITLATIONi   OOTISK- 
»"?'»'    HENT    OP    tH»    ASSOCIATIOIT;    0PPR188IT1    BH- 
-  ti»T  5  »  .'liOTllBNTS!    THB    PROPRIETORS    RESTORED.       '•'  ■• 

ViBGfiwix;  subsequent  to  the!  Englfsh '  revoltrtion;  remained  a 
royal  province  during  her  continuance  aJa  a  colony.  Legislation  was 
(k>nfided  to  a  governor  appointed  by  the  crown,  assisted  by  a  council 
of  his  own  nomination,  and  to  an  assembly  elected  by  the  people. 
The  first  successive  incumbents  of  thb  highest  office  in  the  province 
were  Francis  Nicholson  and  Sir  Edmund  Andros;  the  same  whose 
tyranny  and  exactions  had  previously  exasperated  the  New  Eng- 
land colonies. 

'  These  officials  were  invested  with  high,  and  even  arbitrary  pow- 
ers, but  the  character  of  the  people  with  whom  they  had  to  deal, 
compelled  moderation  in  their  exerci.se.  The  population,  although 
quite  numerous,  was  extensively  scattered,  and  the  isoliited  position 
of  the  planters  and  farmers  tended  to  develop  a  strong  sense  of  per- 
sonal freedom  and  Independence.  The  administration  of  govern- 
ment wa9  not  carried  on  wiihuut  considerable  conflict  between  the 
different  departments,  but  no  very  serious  difficulties  arose.    The 


TH£  SOUTHERN   COLONIES. 


213 


Churoh  of  England  was  the  ectablished  religious  system,  so  far  as 
any  parochial  system  could  be  established  over  so  wide  an  extent 
of  scattered  hamlets  or  detached  plantations;  Tobacco  was  the  great 
staple  .production  of  the  province,  and  served  for  the  principal  oir- 
oultvting  medium.  Taxes  and  ohtiroh  dues  were  specifically  payable 
in  tobacco,,  From  a  complaint,  on  the  part  of  theclergy,  that  they 
were  made  loaeis  by  a  legislative  provision  for  compounding  the 
latter  assessment  by  ai  payment  in  paper  money,  arose  that  cele* 
brated  controversy  relative  to  the  *' parson's  money,"  in  which  the 
eloquence  of  Patrick  Henry,  then  a  young  advocate,  prevailed 
against  a  plain  legal  claim  (1763). 

Pennsylvania,  in  consequence  of  domisstic  disturbance,  fomented 
by  George  Keith,  a  seqeding  Quaker,  and  because  of  suspicions 
which  had  fallen  upon  the  proprietor,  was  subjected,  in  1693,  to  a 
governor  holding i commission  from. the  crown,  and  became,  for  a 
short  period,  a  royal  province.  Benjamin  Fletcher,  governor  of 
New.  York,  received  the  appointment.  His  brief  administration 
was  marked  only  by  strife  with  the  assembly.  In  the  summer  of 
the  following  year,  Penn,  having  regained  the  favour  of  the  king, 
was  reinstated  in  his  colonial  rights. 

In  reestablishing  his  prerogatives,  with  a  new  settlement  of  the 
government,  of  his  colony,  after  restoration  of  the  proprietary  gov- 
ernment, WUliara  Penn  took  every  precaution  to  secure  the  full 
acquiescence  of  the  inhabitants.  The  powers  of  the  governor — a 
deputy  of  the  proprietor — were  not  very  dissimilar  to  those  now 
conferred  upon  the  governor  of  either  of  the  independent  states. 
The  council  was  simply  advisory,  and  the  principal  legislation  was 
confided  to  the  popular  assembly. 

The  inhabitaiits  of  the  present  state  of  Delaware,  then  known  as 
"The  Territories,"  conceiving  that  they  were  insufficiently  repre- 
sented, had,  some  years  previous,  moved  for  a  separation.  This 
had  been  accorded  by  the  proprietor,  but  the  two  provinces  were 
reunited  during  Fletcher's  administration.  A  final  separation  was 
effected  in  1702.  The  governor  of  Pennsylvania  still  retained  a 
nominal  authority,  but  the  new  assembly  had,  in  effect,  entire  con- 
trol over  the  province  of  Delaware.  • 

Although  Penn  had  ever  pursued  a  far  more  generous  policy 
than  any  other  of  the  colonial  proprietors,  and,  with  opportunities 
for  enriching  himself  which  few  would  have  had  the  self-denial  to 
neglect,  was  growing  old  in  poverty,  all  could  not  shield  him  from 


2U 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


suspicion  and  ill-will  on  tbe  part  of  a  portion  of  the  colonists. 
"  From  various  causes,  principally  a  neglect  of  Lis  own  interests  in 
extending  civilization  in  America,  he  became  so  far  involved,  that 
he  was  for  a  time  compelled  to  reside  within  the  rules  of  the  Fleet 
Prison.  In  1709  he  mortgaged  his  province  of  Pennsylvania  to 
relieve  himself  from  the  pressure  of  debt.  During  the  last  six  years 
of  his  life  his  bodily  and  mental  faculties  were  greatly  impaired ;  he 
died,  after  a  gradual  decline,  on  the  80th  of  July,  1718."  His  rights 
as  proprietor  were  exercised,  subsequent  to  his  death,  by  his  widow, 
and  afterwards  by  his  sons.  This  form  of  government  was  contii  ued 
until  the  commencement  of  the  American  revolution. 

The  province  of  Maryland,  on  the  accession  of  William  and 
Mary,  was  under  the  administration  of  deputies  commissioned  by 
the  proprietor,  Lord  Baltimore,  (son  of  the  original  patentee.)  So 
large  a  number  of  the  inhabitants  were  of  the  Catholic  persuasion — 
the  proprietor  holding  to  the  same  faith — that,  although  the  English 
church  had  been  already  established,  it  was  hardly  to  be  expected 
that  a  Protestant  succession  in  England  should  be  looked  upon  with 
general  favour  in  the  colony. 

The  proprietary  government  neglected  to  conform  to  the  new 
order  of  things  until  compelled  by  a  self-constituted  association  of 
the  colonists.  A  provisional  government  was  formed,  which  ob- 
tained the  royal  sanction,  and  existed  until  1692,  when  a  governor 
was  appointed  directly  by  the  crown.  Maryland  became  a  royal 
province,  and  remained  such  for  a  period  of  twenty-three  years. 
The  general  assembly  confirmed  the  church  establishment,  and  many 
disenfranchising  regulations  were  passed  for  the  suppression  of 
papacy.  Catholics  were  not  only  compelled  to  'contribute  to  the 
support  of  the  established  church,  but  were  subjected  to  the  most 
galling  disabilities.  The  legal  successors  of  the  proprietor  were 
restored  to  their  rights  in  1715,  and  maintamed  their  authority  until 
the  general  overthrow  of  the  old  governments  at  the  revolution. 


<_      •;     St 


/  .;•  V.',''  K:!   f  ?!.(:?/i.>i,' 'fi?  .■*;,;;< ; 


VVV<»' 


INDIAN  WABS,  ETC. 


I-. 


■.'ti  i'htr 


^It  li;i  :>V.l. 


.,^     ■:  <.-V;.;i    '.?'    ':j: 


•!(•■•' 


CTiP    A    D  T  P  D      I 


U  ! 


vJ     '-J'     iy:^il- 


.•i;'».>*V'H'«rr:5:  >M.5  !^. ,  . /;    ':«Sjfc"!i4';'  .MrfjTI' 


OOKKENCEMSNT   07    THB   CHSROXKI    WAR:  TRBATT  AT    fOKT 

ST.  OEOROK:  8IE0E  OF  THAT  FORT:  MURDER  OF  H08TAOS8: 

KONTOOMERT'S  CAMPAIGN:   DESTRUCTION  OF  THE  LOWER 

CHEROKEE  SETTLEMENTS:  RETREAT:  MASSACRE  OF 

THE  GARRISON  OF  FORT  LOUDON:    THE   TOWNS 

OF    THE    MIDDLE    CHER0KEE8    DESTROYED 

BT    THE    FORCi;S    UNDER    GRANT. 

Having  thus  given  a  brief  sketch  of  the  affairs  of  the  separate 
colonies,  up  to  the  occurrence  of  events  which  called  for  their  united 
action,  we  may  revert  to  matters  of  more  general  concern,  in  which 
the  provinces,  irrespective  of  political  connection,  were  only  united 
by  a  common  necessity.  The  most  important  transactions  in  which 
the  northern  colonies  were  jointly  engaged,  were  the  early  Indian 
wars,  and  the  protracted  contests  with  the  French  and  Indians.  Of 
these  we  have  already  spoken,  as  far  as  our  limits  would  permit,  in 
treating  of  English  colonization,  and  of  the  French  in  America.  It 
remains  to  notice,  in  military  affairs,  the  Indian  campaigns  in  the 
south  and  west,  and  to  touch  upon  some  topics  of  general  interest  to 
the  colonies,  before  proceeding  to  the  causes  of  discontent  and  the 
political  issues  which  resulted  in  the  war  of  the  revolution. 

After  the  abandonment  of  Fort  Duquesne,  by  the  French,  a  party 
of  Cherokee  Indians,  who,  during  the  campaign,  had  served  in  the 
English  army,  under  General  Forbes,  set  out  upon  their  return  to 
their  own  tribes  and  country.  Impelled  by  necessity,  they  commit- 
ted various  depredations  upon  the  property  of  the  German  settlers 
in  Virginia.  In  some  instances,  they  made  use  of  horses  which  they 
found  at  large  in  the  woods,  and,  as  they  were  nearly  destitute  of 


216 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  CF  HISTOBT. 


provisions,  we  may  suppose  that  they  occasionally  made  free  with 
whatever  might  supply  their  wants. 

These  injuries  were  revenged  by  the  backwoodsmen  in  the  most 
violent  and  cruel  manner.  If  we  may  credit  Adair,  an  historian 
who  had  greater  opportunities  than  any  other  writer  of  his  time  to 
acquaint  himself  With  Indian  character  uid  the  histoiy  of  the  south- 
ern tribes,  they  indulged  their  malice  by  tormenting  and  scalping 
their  victims.  lie  adds,  that  "  those  murderers  were  so  audacious 
as  to  impose  the  scalps  on  the  government  for  those  of  the  French 
Indians;  and  that  they  actually  obtained  the  premiums  allowed  at 
that  time  by  law  in  such  a  case." 

These  outrages  were  not  immediately  resented  by  the  nation,  but 
after  vain  application  for  redress,  and  the  experience  of  further 
wrongs  and  insults^  the  revengeful  spirit  of  the  Indian  was  fully 
aroused.  The  French  and  their  Creek  allies  took  the  opportunity 
to  lend  their  influence  in  exciting  hostility.  A  war-party  was  ac- 
cordingly dispatched  to  oommenco  retaliation  upon  the  western  set- 
tlements of  North  Catolina.  Many  of  the  whites  were  put  to  death, 
and  much  injury  was  done  upon  the  frontier. 

These  events  took  place  in  1759,  and,  as  it  was  now  evident  that 
a  general  disaffection  existed  among  the  Cherokees,  active  exertions 
were  nmde  by  the  governor  of  South  Carolina,  William  Lyttleton, 
to  avert  the  calamities  of  an  Indian  war,  as  well  as  to  prepare 
measures  for  defence  iu  case  of  extremity.  A  conference  waa 
brought  about,  towards  the  cloro  of  the  year,  at  Fort  St.  George,  on 
the  Savannah.  Six  of  the  Indian  chiefs,  claiming  authority  to  aci 
^r  the  t:  Ibe,  appeared,  and  concluded  a  treaty  of  peace,  surrender- 
ing thirty-two  hostages,  as  security  for  their  good  faith. 

This  treaty  was  not  oonaidered  binding  by  the  nation,  and  a 
formidable  body  of  Indians,  led  by  Occonostota,  a  noted  war-chief, 
laid  siege  to  thia  fort  in  the  month  of  February  (1760).  Coytmore, 
the  commander  of  the  garrison,  who  had,  by  some  former  transac- 
tions, acquired  the  special  ill-will  of  the  natives,  was  decoyed  with- 
out the  works,  and  shot  by  concealed  marksmen.  Several  of  his 
companions  were  wounded.  The  Indian  hostages,  from  their  place 
of  confinement  within  the  fort,  hearing  the  report  of  fire-arms, 
shouted  encouragement  to  their  peo[)le.  An  order  was  accordingly 
given  to  put  them  in  irons.  To  this  they  refused  submission,  making 
desperate  rcsibtanoe,  and  wounding  three  of  the  soldiers  who  were 
endeavouring  to  carry  out  the  order.    It  was  then  concluded  to  put 


O'  ^ 


INDIAN  WARS. 


217 


them  all  to  death,  which  was  done  accordingly,  in  a  manner  as 
cowardly  as  the  design  was  base^  viz:  by  firing  down  upon  them, 
through  a  hole  in  the  roof.  "iff      f  >fv?»?    ^'^hinjiti  riii 

The  whole  frontier  was,  immediately  subsequent  to  this  outrage, 
involved  in  a  general  war.  The  British  commander-in-chief  of  the 
regular  forces  in  America,  detached  a  regiment  of  Scotch  Highland- 
ers, under  Colonel  Montgomery,  with  other  troops  from  New  York, 
to  the  seat  of  disturbance.  The  legislatures  of  North  and  South 
Carolina  offered  premiums  for  scalps,  and  raised  sums  of  money  to 
purchase  the  assistance  of  the  Creeks  and  other  southern  tribes. 

In  the  course  of  the  spring.  Colonel  Montgomery,  with  the  regular 
and  provincial  troops  under  his  command,  overran  the  whole  terri- 
tory  of  the  Lower  Cherokees,  laying  waste  every  Indian  settlement 
The  towns  of  Keowee  and  Estatoe,  the  latter  containing  two  hundred 
houses,  were  destroyed,  together  with  great  quantities  of  stored  pro- 
visions. Before  the  end  of  the  campaign,  there  was  not  an  Indian 
village  left  east  of  the  Blue  Ridge.         '?f ;/  '-.^'i  ■"■  '"•>  nn  '>* 

The  Cherokees,  instead  of  being  disheartened  by  their  risverses, 
refused  to  listen  to  any  overtures  of  pacification,  and  prepared  them- 
selves to  rcKst  the  advance  of  the  troops  into  the  interior.  Near 
their  principal  town  of  Etohoe,  they  'prepared  an  ambush  in  a  nar- 
now  pass,  where  a  muddy  stream  took  its  course  between  high  and 
steep  banks,  nearly  impassable  from  tangled  undergrowth.  In 
forcing  this  defile,  the  assailants  met  with  heavy  loss,  and  the  com- 
mander, seeing  that  the  Indians  had  made  a  new  stand  a  little  in 
advance,  and  were  determined  to  rejist  to  the  last,  concluded  to 
retreat    This  was  in  the  month  of  June. 

Immediately  upon  his  return  to  the  coast,  Montgomery,  in  pursu- 
ance of  orders,  sailed  for  New  York,  leaving  Major  Hamilton,  with 
but  a  small  force,  for  the  protection  of  the  exposed  districts.  The 
failure,  of  this  second  expedition  revived  the  spirits  of  the  Indians, 
and  spread  universal  terror  and  con.sternation  among  the  colonists 
of  the  frontier^  At  Fort  Loudon,  the  garrison  under  Captain  Stu- 
art, afVer  sustaining  a  long  siege,  evacuated  the  place,  upon  condi- 
tions conceded  by  Ocooiiostota,  of  free  and  safe  passage  to  Fort  St 
George,  or  into  Virginia.  They  had  not,  however,  proceeded  far, 
before  they  were  set  upon  by  the  enemy,  and  all  killed  or  taken 
prisoners. 

Captain  Stuart  owed  his  life  and  liberty  to  the  benevolence  of 
an  old  chief,  named  Alukulhikulhi,  a  man  of  great  influence  in  his 


m 


218 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


tribe,  and  peaceably  disposed  towards  the  colonists.  The  safety  of 
Fort  St.  George  was  secured  by  a  timely  warning  from  Stuart  of 
an  intended  attack  by  the  Indians.  An  attitude  of  hostility  was 
still  maintained  by  the  Cherokees,  and  constant  efforts  were  made 
by  French  agents  among  them  to  avert  any  prospect  of  a  peaceable 
settlement  of  difficulties. 

In  the  spring  of  1761,  a  force  of  more  than  two  thousand  British 
regulars,  provincial  troops,  and  friendly  Indians,  under  command  of 
Colonel  James  Grant,  was  marched  into  the  interior.  Old  Attakulla- 
kulla  made  vain  interposition  in  behalf  of  his  people.  On  the  10th 
of  June,  a  desperate  effort  was  made  by  ti.e  main  body  of  the  Indians 
to  check  the  advance  of  the  enemy.  The  battle  took  place  near  the 
spot  whither  Montgomery  had  penetrated  on  his  last  expedition. 
The  Cherokees  were  totally  defeated;  the  town  of  Etchoe  was 
burned;  and  "all  the  other  towns  in  the  middle  settlement,  fourteen 
in  number,  shared  the  same  fate:  the  corn,  cattle,  and  other  stores 
of  the  enemy,  were  likewise  destroyed,  and  those  miserable  savage?, 
with  their  families,  were  driven  to  seek  shelter  and  subsistence 
among  the  barren  mountains."* 

The  Indians  were,  of  course,  obliged  to  accept  such  terms  as  their 
conquerors  saw  fit  to  impose,  but  it  does  not  appear  that  any  ungen- 
erous advantage  was  taken  of  their  helpless  condition.  Indeed,  after 
the  conclusion  of  peace,  efforts  were  made  for  the  protection  of  the 
Indians  in  their  landed  rights,  and  to  regulate  the  traffic  with  them 
so  as  to  secure  them  against  deception. 

The  whole  of  the  southern  tribes  remained,  comparatively,  at  peace 
with  the  colonies  from  this  period  until  they  became  involved  in  the 
general  Indian  wars  of  the  early  part  of  the  present  century,  "By 
a  steady  increase  of  numbers,  and  the  adventurous  spirit  of  pioneers 
the  white  settlers  every  where  made  ad  vances  ufKJn  the  Indian  terri- 
tory. Sometimes  large  acquisitions  would  be  made  by  a  government 
purchase;  but,  to  no  small  extent,  the  opinion  that  the  occupation 
of  a  few  roving  savages  could  give  no  natural  title  to  lands,  as 
opposed  to  the  claims  of  those  who  had  reclaimed,  enclosed,  and 
improved  the  wilderness,  satisfied  the  consciences  of  the  encroachers. 
The  argument  in  favour  of  this  conclusion  is  by  no  means  without 
force;  but  who  can  take  upon  himself  to  draw  the  line  of  demarca- 
tion which  shall  decide,  upon  any  principles  of  universal  application, 
the  bounds  of  so  artificial  a  right  as  the  ownership  of  land  ?"t 
*  HcCall's  History  of  Georifia.  f  Indian  Races  of  America. 


INDIAN  WARS.  219 


BN0LI8U   OCCUPATION  OP  THE  WESTERN  TRADING    POSTS. — 
CONSPIRACY   OP   THE   N0HTH-WB8TERN  TRIBES,  UNDER  PON- 
TIAC.  —  DESTRUCTION   OP  THE  ENGLISH   PORTS.' — TAIINO 
OP    MICHIILIMACIINAC. — SIEGE  OP   DETROIT.  —  LOSS 
AT    BLOODT-RUN. — CLOSE    OP    THE    WAR. — MASSA- 
CRE   OP    THE    CANESTOOA    INDIANS. 

By  treaty,  in  1760,  the  extended  line  of  stations  upon  the  western 
lakes,  belonging  to  the  Frenv.h,  were  to  be  put  into  possession  of  the 
English.  The  long  friendship  that  had  subsisted  between  the 
former  and  the  Ottawas,  Chippewas,  Pottawatomies,  &c.,  who  inhab- 
ited the  country,  caused  these  tribes  to  look  with  jealous  eyes  upon 
the  proposed  English  occupation.  They  were  united  in  a  sort  of 
confederation,  at  the  head  of  which,  in  influence  and  authority, 
was  Pontiac,  the  renowned  Ottawa  chief.  Although  he  had  formed 
the  determination  of  restoring  his  old  allies,  the  French,  to  the  pos- 
session of  cheir  established  trading  posts,  this  bold,  but  crafty 
leader,  suffered  the  first  English  detachment,  under  Major  Bogers, 
to  enter  the  country  without  molestation.  In  an  interview,  held 
with  the  commanding  officer,  he  exhibited  the  pride  and  dignity  of 
a  monarch,  expressly  asserting  his  own  rights  of  territory. 

His  plans  being  perfected,  and  the  cooperation  of  other  tribes — 
among  them,  the  Miamis,  Sacs  and  Foxes,  Hurons,  and  Shawanees — 
being  secured,  the  month  of  June,  1763,  was  appointed  for  a  simul- 
taneous attack  upon  all  the  English  strongholds  at  the  west.  So 
extensive  were  the  preparations  for  this  outbreak,  that  entire  secresy 
could  not  be  preserved  respecting  it,  ^iid  intimation  was,  from  time 
to  time,  given  by  white  traders  of  the  storm  that  was  brewing. 
Either  these  reports  were  not  fully  credited,  or  the  garrisons  felt 
themselves  strong  enough  to  defy  any  attack  from  the  Indians,  for 
no  extrarrdinary  precautions  were  taken  for  defence. 

When  the  blow  fell,  the  Indians  appeared  in  such  numbers  that, 
althougl  divided  into  as  many  parties  as  there  were  points  of  attack, 
they  ov  jrpowered  the  garrisons,  and  destroyed  the  works  of  nearly 
all  the  English  forts.  Nine  of  these  were  taken  by  force  or  fraud, 
and  the  defenders  slain  or  carried  away  captive.    The  ittanner  in 


:iii 


ite.::y 


220 


THE  I'EOl'Ll'8  BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


which  Michilliinackinac  was  seized,  is  thus  described:  "Hundreds 
of  Indians,  mostly  Chippewas  and  Sacs,  had  been  loitering  about  the 
place  for  some  days  previous,  and,  on  the  4th  of  June,  they  pro- 
ceeded to  celebrate  the  king's  birthday  by  a  great  game  at  \  all. 
This  sport,  carried  on,  aa  usual,  with  noise  and  tumult,  threw  the 
garrison  off  their  guard,  at  the  same  Ume  that  it  afforded  a  pretext 
for  clambering  into  the  fort.  The  hall  was  soveral  times,  as  if  by 
accident,  knocked  within  the  picketn,  the  whole  gang  rushing  in 
pursuit  of  it  with  shouts.  At  a  favoui'vble  moment,  they  fell  upon 
the  English,  dispersed  and  unsuspicious  of  intended  harm,  and  be- 
fore any  effectual  resistance  could  be  made,  murdered  and  scalped 
seventy  of  the  number.  The  remainder,  being  twenty  men,  were 
taken  captive."* 

Early  in  May,  Pontiac,  in  person,  with  a  chosen  body  of  warriors, 
laid  siege  to  Detroit,  the  principal  military  post  and  trading  station 
at  the  far  west.  The  place  was  garrisoned  by  an  hundred  and  thirty 
men,  of  whom  Major  Gladwyn  had  command.  A  plan  was  formed 
by  the  Indians  to  gain  admission  within  the  fort,  on  pretence  of  a 
conference,  and  then,  with  concealed  weapons,  (nfles,  shortened,  so  as 
to  bp  hid  by  the  blanket,)  to  fall  upon  the  garrison  at  a  disadvantage, 
admit  the  main  body  from  without,  and,  after  a  general  massacre,  to 
seize  upon  the  valuable  stores  collected  for  protection.  This  device 
was  betrayed  to  Gladwyn  by  a  squaw  to  whom  he  had  shown  Home 
kindness.  The  Indians  were  accordingly  admitted  without  hesita- 
tion, but  the  troops  were  drawn  up  ready  for  an  attack.  Pontiac 
"heard  the  drums  beat,  and  saw  every  soldier's  musket  levelled, 
and  the  swords  of  the  officers  drawn  and  ready  for  use.  Major 
Oladwyn,  stepping  to  the  warrior  nearest  him,  liftf^d  his  blanket,  and 
disclosed  the  shortened  rifla  He  then  upbraided  the  sachem  for 
his  intended  villany,  and,  taking  no  advanUige  of  the  opportunity 
for  securing  him,  gave  proof  of  his  own  high-minded  sense  of  honour 
by  dismissing  the  u  hole  party  unharmetl  " 

This  magnanimity  availed  but  little.  Vhe  Indians,  to  the  number 
of  nearly  a  thousand,  laid  cloHe  siege  to  the  fort,  and,  for  months,  it 
was  only  by  hard  fighting,  and  with  heavy  loss,  that  provisions  and 
stores  could  be  furnished  fron>  without  Many  of  the  captives  taken 
by  the  Indians,  were  put  to  death  with  savage  barbarity.  Three 
hundred  men,  commanded  by  a  Captain  IMyeU,  were  sent  to  Detroit 
to  r^f'oroe  the  garruon,  in  t^e  month  of  July.    With  this  additional 

•  I         I  *  Indian  Races  of  America.    *  ■  *'-•■■• 


\. 


INDIAN  WARB.   ^ 


221 


force  it  was  thought  praoticablo  to  commenco  offensive  operations. 
A  sally  was  made  accordingly,  but  Pontiac  had  by  some  means  gained 
intelligence  of  what  was  about .  to  take  place,  and  had  prepared  an 
ambush  near  the  bridge  over  Bloody-Run.  Instead  of  surprising  the 
enemy,  the  whites  were  taken  at  a  complete  disadvantage,  and 
retired  with  the  loss,  in  killed  and  wounded,  of  more  than  one 
hundred  men. 

All  throughout  the  north-western  frontier,  from  the  lakes  to  the 
Ohio  nver,  this  conspiracy  of  the  Indian  tribes  spread  desolation 
and  distress  for  a  whole  year.  Of  the  great  leader  of  the  confederal 
tion,  we  learn  very  little  after  his  operations  against  Detroit  In 
the  summer  of  1764,  a  powerful  force,  under  General  Bradstreet, 
was  marched  into  the  Indian  territory,  and,  by  force  or  treaty,  peace 
was  established  with  the  various  tribes  of  the  north-west. 

Connected  with  the  events  of  1  yntiac's  war,  is  the  account  of  a 
barbarous  outrage  committed  at  Canestoga,  near  Lancaster,  Pennsyl- 
vania. The  settlers  of  this  portion  of  the  country  were  less  exposed 
to  savage  incursions  than  those  established  further  towards  the  north- 
west,  but  the  reports  constantly  received  of  Indian  massacres  upon 
the  frontier,  excited  their  minds  to  the  highest  pitch  of  fear  and 
hatred  towards  the  natives.  Heckewelder  speaks  as  follows  of  the 
character  of  but  too  many  of  the  rough  pioneers  of  the  western 
wilderness:  "I  have  yet  to  notice  a  class  of  people  generally  known 
to  us  by  the  name  of  '  backwood's-men,'  many  of  whom,  acting  up 
to  a  pretended  belief  that  'an  Indian  had  no  more  soul  than  a  bn^- 
fJo;'  and  that  to  kill  ler  is  the  same  thing;  have,  from  time  to 
time,  by  their  conduct,  brought  great  trouble  and  bloodshed  on  the 
country.  Such,  then,  T  wish  to  caution  not  to  sport  in  that  manner 
with  the  lives  of  God's  creatures.  *  *  Believe  that  a  time  will 
come  when  you  must  account  for  such  vile  deeds!  When  those  who 
have  fallen  a  sacrifice  to  your  wickedness,  will  be  called  forth  in 
judgment  against  you  I  Nay,  when  your  own  descendants  will  tes- 
tify against  you."  The  truth  of  this  prediction  is  strikingly  manifest 
from  the  popular  feeling  at  the  present  day  respecting  the  Indians, 
their  rights,  and  the  treatment  which  they  experienced  at  the  hands 
of  the  early  settlers. 

At  Canestoga,  a  small  and  peaceable  body  of  Indians  had  been 
long  established,  under  the  care  and  teaching  of  the  Moravian  mis- 
sion. As  far  as  appears,  they  had  not  the  slightest  connection  with 
the  general  conspiracy,  nor  had  they  given  any  provocation  for  the 


t 


222 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTOBT. 


wanton  attack  which  was  made  upon  them.  A  mob  of  more  than 
fifty  men,  from  Paxton,  fell  upon  the  settlement,  in  November,  1763. 
A  portion  of  the  inhabitants  fled  to  Lancaster,  where  thej  sought 
an  asylum  in  the  jail-yards.  Those  who  were  left  at  Canestoga — 
men,  women,  and  children — fourteen  in  number,  were  brutally 
murdered.  The  white  savages,  their  cruelty  unsatiated,  then  has- 
tened to  Lancaster,  and,  breaking  open  the  jail,  completed  their  work 
of  destruction.  From  fifteen  to  twenty  perished  in  the  jail-yard, 
where  they  were  seen  by  one  whose  account  has  reached  us.  "Men, 
women,  and  children,  spread  about  the  prison-yard;  shot — scalped 
^•hacked — £nd  cut  to  pieces." 


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EUROPEAN  COLONIAL  POLICY, 


^/^S^^S^VSMAAAAA^rf<i>/«AM/S^<ii^\/S^>^^/W^^W^^VWS/^^WS^rfVW^W^VW 


SPANISH  AND  ENGLISH  RESTRICTIONS  UPON  TRADE  AND  COM- 
MERCE.— CONTRABAND    TRAFFIC. — THE   "A8SIENT0"   TREATY. 
. — THE  SLAVE-TRADE:   ITS  GENERAL  POPULARITY:  CAUSES 
WHICH  LEAD  TO  THE  ABOLITION  OF  SLAVERY:  MANNER  OP 
PROCURING   NEGROES  FROM  AFRICA:   PROFIT  OF  THE 
TRADE:  NUMBERS  BROUGHT  OVER;  ENGLISH  LAW  UPON 
THE  SUBJECT  OF  SLAVERY. — INTRODUCTION  01 
WHITE  APPRENTICES,  OR  "REDEMPTIONERS." 


M 


Ir  '  Icult,  at  the  present  day,  to  comprehend  the  blindness  of 
the  ■  ';^  can  nations  to  their  own  interests,  and  those  of  their  colo- 
nies, as  exhibited  in  the  prohibitions  and  restrictions  once  universally 
imposed  „upon  trade  and  commerce.  Experienced  politicians  must 
have  foreseen  the  probable  tendency  of  that  short-sighted  policy 
which,  for  the  sake  of  present  gain,  was  willing  to  destroy  all  identity 
between  the  parent  states  and  their  colonies,  and  to  alienate  the 
afifections  of  a  vast  population,  whose  loyalty,  gratitude,  and  friend- 
ship, by  the  exercise  of  a  little  forbearance,  might  have  been  retained 
for  many  generations. 

We  have  had  occasion,  elsewhere,  to  speak  more  particularly  of 
the  insufferable  tyranny  of  Spain  in  all  the  dealings  with  her  colo- 
nies :  in  those  of  England,  although  the  domestic  privileges  of  the 
community  were  not  so  openly  and  grossly  violated,  there  yet  ex- 
isted restraints  on  manufactures  and  trade,  which,  considering  the 
difference  in  natural  character,  were  hardly  less  galling.  The  most 
jealous  care  was  taken  to  discourage  the  development  of  all  internal 
resources  which  might  interfere  with  British  manufacture  or  pro- 
duce; British  vessels  must  be  employed,  and  an  English  market 
sought,  regardless  of  the  interests  of  the  merchant  and  the  require- 
ments of  trade.  Individual  selfishness  alone  can  account  for  the 
pursuance  of  such  a  policy,  and  we  must  conclude  that  those  in 
Vol.  IV.-43 


i 


224 


THE   PEOPLE'S   BOOK   OF   HISTORY. 


power  foresaw  the  consequences  of  their  proceedings,  but  trusted  to 
reap  tlie  benefits  in  their  own  persons,  leaving  retribution  to  be 
visited  upon  their  posterity. 

The  temptations  held  or'  to  the  contraband  trader  were  suffi- 
ciently g  ut  for  the  incurr»  ^ce  of  heavy  risks,  and  the  connivance 
of  the  home  government  at  such  irregularities,  so  far  as  they  only 
affected  the  interest  of  a  rival  nation,  gave  special  impetus  to  their 
commission.  Severities  practised  upon  oflTenders  when  detected, 
and  mutual  hostility  engendered  by  continual  conflict  of  claims^ 
resulted  in  wars  between  the  old  countries,  the  burden  of  which  fell 
most  heavily  upon  the  infant  colonies,  whose  whole  energies  were 
required  to  overcome  the  nat  .ral  di.liculties  of  their  situation. 

By  the  "assiento"  treaty,  the  privileges  of  which  were  made  over 
to  the  celebrated  South  Sea  Company,  Spain  conceded  to  England 
a  limited  right  to  transport  slaves  into  the  colonies  of  the  former 
nation.  This  gave  great  impetus  to  the  traffic,  and  so  far  was  the 
community  blinded  by  present  interest  to  the  claims  of  humanit  r 
and  true  policy,  that  it  was  generally  "  accounted  a  genteel  employ- 
ment," reflecting  no  discredit  upon  those  who  systematically  pursued 
it.  It  is  a  singular  thing  how  far  the  opinions  of  men,  and  ho\7 
much  farther  their  conduct,  receive  direction  from  custom.  How- 
ever much  we  niay  condemn  the  evils  of  a  system,  before  denouncing 
its  individual  supporters,  we  should  do  well  to  inquire  what  would 
have  been  our  own  course  of  conduct  had  we  passed  our  lives  subject 
to  the  same  influences,  and  dependent  upon  the  same  interests. 
Statistics  of  thi'.  proportion  of  those  who  have  freed  their  slaves, 
during  their  own  lives,  from  conscientious  scruples,  as  compared  with 

■•  whole  slave-holding  population,  would  furnish  every  man  with 
i\  fair  criterion  for  estimating  the  extent  of  his  own  disinterestedness. 
I'he  treatment  of  slaves  is,  of  course,  fa  variant  as  the  character  of 
their  owners,  but  where  the  institution  of  slavery  exists,  all,  with  a 
few  rare  exceptions,  who  can  avail  themselves  of  its  convenience, 
openly  support  it.  * 

In  the  Northern  United  States  it  existed  until  the  influx  of  free 
labourers  reduced  the  value  of  slave-labour,  and  created  a  major- 
ity in  the  community  of  those  whose  interests  were  directly  opposed 
to  the  continuance  of  the  system.  We  may  venture  to  predict  that 
no  other  influence  than  this  will  ever  avail  to  produce  a  similar 
result  in  the  pjuthern  states.  Self-interest,  when  directly  appealed 
to,  must  ever  prevail  with  the  mi\jority,  until  mankind  shall  have 


COLONIAL   POLICY. 


225 


Ik..  H'  au  i^vance  in  benevolence  and  a  sense  of  justice,  beyond  any 
present  indications. 

The  manner  of  procuring  negroes  on  the  African  coast,  and  of 
their  conveyance  to  the  shores  of  America,  has  undergone  no  mate- 
rial change  from  the  period  of  their  first  introductiou  to  the  present 
day.  The  extent  of  coast  upon  which  they  can  be  procured,  and 
the  convenience  of  legal  markets,  have  indeed  been  curtailed ;  but 
the  unfortunates  now  brought  over  to  the  island  of  Cuba,  are  pro- 
cured by  the  same  species  of  traffic,  confined  in  the  same  limited 
space  on  their  passage,  and  subject  to  the  same  sufferings  from  short 
allowance  and  tempestuous  weather,  as  in  former  times.  Still  are 
children  kidnapped  by  strangers  or  sold  by  their  relations;  the  sama 
rude  regulations  still  render  one  negro  a  slave  to  his  fellow  in  his 
native  land;*  or*^  tribe  may  yet,  as  of  old,  make  war  upon  another, 
upon  the  annual  unfolding  of  a  certain  flower,  for  the  sake  of  pro- 
curing prisoners. 

The  trade,  carried  on  mostly  by  British  merchants,  proved  as 
profitable  to  the  ship-owners  as  acceptable  to  the  colonists.  It  is 
computed  that  no  less  than  three  hundred  thousand  negroes  were 
imported  into  the  original  states  during  their  continuance  as  colonies. 
A  vastly  larger  number  were  brought  over  in  English  bottoms,  to 
the  French  and  Spanish  colonies.  Mr.  Bancroft's  estimate  is  as  fol- 
lows: "We  shall  not  err  very  much,  if,  for  the  century  previous  to 
the  prohibition  of  the  slave-v:rade  by  the  American  congress,  in 
1776,  we  assume  the  number  imported  by  the  English  into  the 
Spanish,  French,  and  Englisu  West  Indies,  as  well  as  the  English 
continental  colonies,  to  have  been,  collectivel}'^,  nearly  three  mil- 
lions ;  to  which  are  to  be  added  more  than  a  quarter  of  a  million 
purchased  in  Africa,  and  thrown  into  the  Atlantic  on  the  pa.«»sage. 
The  gross  return."'  to  English  merchants  for  the  whole  traffic  in  that 
number  of  slaves,  may  have  been  not  far  from  four  hundred  millions 
ot  dollars." 
The  question  as  to  the  exact  b>3aring  of  the  laws  of  England  upon 

*  A  negro  having  u  lien  upon  hia  own  brother,  for  a  debt,  or  some  other  cause, 
brought  him  on  board  a  slaver,  nnd  concluded  a  bargain  for  him.  As  the  vendor, 
however,  was  about  to  leave  the  veslel,  he  was  informed  that  he  might  7teep  his 
brother  company,  and  was  presently  clapped  under  hatches  with  the  rest  The 
Rev.  John  Newton,  who  was  long  engaged  in  the  slave-trade,  as  master  of  a  vessel, 
'lays:  "It  often  happens  that  the  man  who  sells  another  on  board  a  ship,  is  himself 
bought  and  sold  in  the  same  manner,  and  perhaps  in  thj  siimc  vessel,  before  the 
week  is  ended." 


226 


THE  PEOl'LE'S  BOOK  OF  HI8T0KT. 


the  subject  of  slavery,  was  long  a  '  tio  vexata.  The  institution 
had  a  gradual  origin  by  custom,  scarcely  recognized,  and  never 
directly  supported  by  legislative  enactments.  In  the  courts  great 
difference  of  opinion  prevailed,  but  the  general  legality  of  the  system 
was  maintained  by  their  decisions,  it  being  declared  a  valid  custom. 
As  has  been  remarked,  such  a  custom  would  hardly  possess  all  the 
requisites  for  validity  laid  down  by  Blackstone,  viz:  that  it  should 
be  a  "good  custom,"  for  "7naZtw  usus  abolendua  est;^^  that  it  should 
have  existed  "so  long  that  the  m3mory  of  man  runr.th  not  to  the 
contrary;"  that  it  should  have  been  "continued,"  without  inter- 
ruption; that  it  should  be  '  ^;eaceable,"  "reasonable,"  "certain," 
"compulsory,"  and  "consistent"    .  . 

About  the  middle  of  ihe  past  century,  the  slave-trade,  freed  from 
restrictive  laws,  recognized  in  its  legality  by  decisions  of  courts,  and 
open  to  every  adventurer,  flourished  to  an  extent  never  known  before 
or  since.  The  trade  was  the  object  of  speoial  attention  to  the  British 
government,  by  which  the  forts  on  the  coast  of  Africa  were  main- 
tained. Slaves  were  even  allowed  to  be  taken  to  England,  and  the 
right  of  their  masters  to  hold  them  in  servitude  on  British  soil  was 
definitely  acknowledged  by  the  most  able  judicial  authorities. 

Notwithstanding  the  immense  importation  of  negroes,  the  constant 
call  for  labourers  was  met,  especially  in  Virginia  and  Pennsylvania, 
by  the  immigration  of  apprentices,  or  "  redemptioners,"  being  whites 
of  the  poorer  class,  who  were  bound  to  service  for  a  term  of  years. 
To  these,  grants  of  land  and  temporary  supplies  wero  secured  by 
law  at  the  end  of  their  term,  but  during  its  continuance  they  were 
substantially  in  the  condition  of  slaves. 


THE  AMEEICAN  EEVOLUTION 


L/iXi/iirxJlixii. 

OBNERAL  RIGHTS  OF  COLONIES. — EARLY  CAUSES  OF  COKFLAINT 
IN    AMERICA.  —  ARBIT3ART     CUSTOM    LAWS. — ILLEGAL 
CONDUCT  OF  ENGLISH  OFFICIALS. — ACTS  IN  REGULA- 
TION OF  TRADE. —  EXPENSES  OF  THE  LATE  WARS  IN     .<< 
AMERICA. — THE   "SUGAR-ACT." — OPPOSITION 
AND  REMON^STRANCB  IN   THE  COLONIES. 

How  have  words  been  multiplied  in  vain  attempts  to  apply  prin- 
ciples of  abstract  right  to  political  movements,  and  how  much  more 
vainly  has  the  search  been  made  for  pr?  iciples  of  universal  applica- 
tion in  that  uncertain  code  of  maxims  known  as  the  law  of  nations. 
In  a  question  between  two  communities,  there  is  usually  no  tribunal, 
and  they  must  severally  do  what  is  "right  in  their  own  eyes,"  pro- 
vided it  be,  at  the  same  time,  practicable.  Of  all  political  questions, 
perhaps  the  most  unsettlei,  is  that  concerning  the  rights  of  colonies. 

It  was  said  by  Hutcheson,  in  1755,*  that  colonies  "have  a  right 
to  be  released  from  the  dominion  of  the  parent  state,"  '*  whenever 
they  are  so  increased  in  numbers  and  strength  as  to  be  sufficient  by 
themselves  for  all  the  good  ends  of  a  political  union."  Simply,  that 
whenever  they  have  the  will,  and,  in  their  own  opinion,  the  power, 
to  stand  alone,  the  right  follows,  of  course.  The  case  is  similar  to 
that  of  a  child  seeking  relea.se  from  parental  control :  in  a  state  of 
nature  he  will  do  this  when  he  has  attained  sufficient  strength  and 
Relf-dependence;  but,  for  convenience  and  certainty,  a  time  has  been 
arbitrarily  set  by  society  for  his  emancipation.  As  regards  states, 
no  such  time  has  been,  or  can  be  establisheu,  because  its  occurrence 
mast  always  depend  upon  questions  of  fact,  for  the  decision  of 
which  there  is,  as  before  mentioned,  no  tribunal.    The  question  must 

*  Bp.icroft's  History  of  the  United  States. 


228 


TUE  PEOPLE'S   BOOK   OF   HISTORY. 


always  remain  merely  a  question  of  ability,  until  the  Utopian  theory 
of  an  international  code  and  court  shall  have  been  reduced  to 
practice. 

The  opinion  of  the  world  has  seldom,  if  ever,  been  called  to  be 
passed  upon  the  violent  rupture  of  the  connection  between  a  parent 
state  and  its  colony,  while  the  inhabitants  of  the  latter  were  in  the 
enjoyment  of  equal  privileges  and  favour  with  those  of  the  former. 
A  feeling  of  affection  and  natural  pride  commonly  causes  them  to 
cling  to  the  land  of  their  parentage  until  a  long  course  of  extortion 
and  oppression  has  rendered  tie  tie  too  onerous  *    be  endured. 

In  America,  the  English  cclonies  had  submitted — not,  it  is  true, 
without  murmurs — to  the  most  arbitrary  restrictions  upon  manufac- 
tures in  which  they  might  profitably  have  engaged,  imposed  simply 
to  compel  importation  from  England.  A  steady,  and,  in  most  cases, 
an  effectual  stand  had  beeu  made  against  the  reiterated  demand  of  a 
fixed  salary  for  the  royal  governora  Burdensome  restrictions  upon 
foreign  trade  v  .re  protested  against,  and  extensively  evaded  b^ 
contraband  traffic.  This  gave  occasion  for  arbitrary  proceedings  by 
the  officers  of  the  custonu  in  searching  for  smuggled  goods.  Their 
conduct,  in  this  respect,  appearing  to  bo  illegal,  they  sought  the  aid 
of  the  superior  courts  of  law,  and  "  writs  of  assistance,"  in  the  nature 
of  search-warrants,  were  accordingly  issued.  The  power  of  the  court 
to  issue  these  writs  was  called  in  question,  and  tested  in  Massachu- 
chusetts,  in  1761.  The  eloquent  Jam'>s  Otis,  and  the  learned  jurist, 
Oxenbridge  Thatcher,  argued  successfully  against  their  validity. 

The  question,  by  this  time,  had  come  to  be  widely  agitated,  ns  to 
the  probable  tendency  of  the  continual  encroachments  upon  the  lib- 
erties of  the  colonies.  The  legii^latures  of  the  different  provinces, 
elected  by  a  system  more  nearly  approaching  universal  suffrage 
than  any  ever  known  in  England,  indulged  in  freedom  of  thouglit 
and  expression,  denounced  as  treosonuble  and  rebellious  iu  the  pureiit- 
country.  The  duties  and  imposts  which  had  been  submitted  to  for 
aloiig  term  of  years  as  being  "regulations  of  trade,"  for  the  protection 
of  the  British  West  India  Lslaiids,  and  other  collateral  purposes,  and, 
therefore,  within  the  proper  jurisdiction  of  the  board  of  trade,  when 
directed  immediately  towards  the  enlargement  of  revenue,  excited 
universal  disaffection  and  indignation. 

The  recent  wars  had  enormou-^ly  increased  the  public  debt,  and 
English  politicians  were  busily  engaged  in  framing  schemes  by 
which  the  American  colonies  should  share  the  burden  of  expense 


THE   AMEKICAN    REVOLUTION. 


229 


incurred,  as  waa  averred,  expressly  for  their  benefit  On  the  other 
band,  it  was  claimed  that  the  colonies  had  already  contributed  more 
than  their  proportion  towards  these  expenses;  that,  being  frequently 
the  seat  of  war,  they  had,  in  other  respects,  felt  its  calamities  far 
more  heavily  than  the  people  of  England ;  and  that  the  latter  coun- 
try, by  reason  of  its  immense  income  froTa  the  restricted  colonial 
trade,  was  as  directly  and  pecuniarily  interested  in  maintaining  and 
protecting  the  provinces  from  foreign  encroachment  as  were  the 
inhabitants  themselves. 

It  was,  moreover,  evident  that  it  would  be  impossible  for  any  man 
to  foretell  to  what  extremes  government  might  eventually  proceed 
in  the  imposition  of  taxes  upon  a  distant  community,  in  no  way 
represented  in  the  legislature,  whose  condition  and  capabilities  could 
never  be  fully  understood  in  Euglaud,  and  whose  growing  resources 
would  indubitably  be  met  by  a  still  more  rapid  increase  of  exaction. 
What  had  been  accomplished,  had  been  by  sufferance,  and  under 
protest;  it  remained  for  the  open  extension  of  duties  for  revenv 
purposes,  and  the  attempted  imposition  of  a  direct  tax,  to  rouse  to 
flame  the  discontent  already  kindled. 

In  the  spritig  of  1764,  George  Grenville,  chancellor  of  the  exche- 
quer, introduced  and  carried  an  act  in  alteration  of  the  former  rate 
of  imposts  upon  West  India  goods,  &c.,  by  which,  while  the  duties 
on  certain  articles  were  reduced,  the  restrictions  v/ere  extended  to 
Frerioh  and  East  India  produce,  and  to  various  foreign  articles  of 
luxury.  The  anticipated  difficulty  of  enforcing  the  new  tariff,  was 
met  by  a  provision  extending  the  powers  and  jurisdiction  of  the 
courts  of  admiralty.  At  the  same  time,  he  laid  before  parliament  a 
proposal,  to  be  acted  upon  at  a  future  session,  for  the  enlargement 
of  the  revenue  by  the  collection  of  duties  upon  stamped  paper. 
Taere  seems,  at  this  period,  to  have  been  scarcely  the  shadow  of 
opposition  in  the  British  legislature,  to  the  general  principle  of  the 
right  to  impose  discretionary  taxes  upon  the  colonies.  One  principal 
object  in  the  scheme  for  levying  a  direct  and  additional  assessment, 
was  to  provide  means  for  the  permanent  support  of  a  military  estab- 
lishment in  America;  thus  to  compel  the  people  to  furnish  means 
for  tlieir  own  enslavement,  and  for  the  enforcing  of  whatever  future 
tyrannical  enactments  might  result  from  the  necessities  or  avarice  of 
the  British  government. 

The  "sugar-act,"  as  the  new  law  respecting  cuatoras  was  called, 
excited  the  utmost  dissatisfaction,  especially  in  he  northern  colonies — 


|| 


1 

'"Sill 


280 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


a  feeling  heightened  and  extended  by  the  intimation  of  the  intended 
stamp  act,  which  acconipanied  its  passage.  The  subject  was  dis- 
cussed in  the  coloninl  legislatures,  and  letters  of  instruction  were 
prepared  for  their  agents  in  England,  breathing  the  strongest  spirit 
of  opposition.  In  these  debutes,  in  the  petitions  and  remonstrances 
forwarded  to  the  home  government,  and  in  the  writings  of  Otis, 
Thatcher,  and  other  distinguished  or  rising  politicians,  the  same 
principles  were  strenuously  maintained  and  ably  argued.  Appeals 
to  every  man's  individual  sense  of  justice;  reference  to  rights  secured 
by  magna  charta,  by  the  special  charters  of  the  provinces,  and  by 
the  maxims  of  English  common  law;  and  representations  of  the 
extent  to  which  experience  ha  1  shown  that  the  colonies  would 
assume  their  just  share  of  the  burden  of  government,  were  urged 
with  zeal,  energy,  and  ability. 

Few,  if  any,  yet  spoke  of  open  resistance  to  the  power  of  parlia- 
ment, but  succeeding  events  proved  that  public  sentiment  must 
have  been  rapidly  preparing  for  such  an  extremity. 


uitltrLiXiliii    ii» 


THE  STAMP  ACT:    AROtVENT  IN  THE  HOUSE  OF  C0MH0N8:  PASS- 
AGE OP  THE   BILL:   ITS  EFFECT  IN  THE  COLONIES. — RESOLU- 
TIONS IN  THE  VIRGINIA  ASSEMBLY.  —  PATRICK  HENRY. — 
PROCEEDINGS  IN  MASSACHUSETTS:    POPULAR  TUMI'LTS: 
RESIGNATION    OF    THE    STAMP    OFFICERS. 


-c^ 


In  the  month  of  February,  17fio,  the  important  act,  providing  for 
the  increase  of  revenue  by  stamp  duties  in  America,  was  introduced 
into  the  House  of  Commons.  By  its  provisions  all  legal  documents, 
promissory  notes,  deeds,  commercial  papers,  official  certificates,  ic, 
&c.,  must  be  written  upon  paper  that  had  received  a  government 
stamp,  and  on  which  fixed  duties  had  been  paid.  Of  all  that  was 
said  in  argument  upon  the  merits  of  the  bill,  nothing  excited  more 
general  attention,  in  the  community,  than  a  short  speech  by  Colonei 
Isaac  Barr<5. 

This  member  had  seen  service  in  America,  during  the  French  war, 
.ntid,  familiar  himself  with  the  character  and  condition  of  the  people, 


m 


4.tl 


THE  AMERICAN   REVOLUTION. 


281 


he  expressed  a  becoming  disgust  at  the  ignorance  in  regard  to  the 
colonics  which  characterized  the  speeches  of  several  supporters  of  tho 
bill.  The  eloquent  Charles  Townshend  spoke  in  its  favour,  and  con- 
cluded his  remarks  with  an  inquiry,  whether  the  colonists  could 
presume  to  refuse  aid  to  the  parent-country,  by  whose  protection 
they  alone  had  maintained  their  existence,  and  arrived  at  a  position 
of  comparative  wealth  and  importance. 

Barr6  rose,  and,  with  great  animation,  exposed  the  fallacy  of  the 
declaration.  He  pointed  out  briefly  the  real  origin  of  emigration  to 
America,  the  unaided  efforts  and  suflFerings  of  the  early  colonists  in 
establishing  a  civilized  community  in  the  wilderness,  the  neglect 
that  they  had  experienced  at  the  hands  of  the  home  government, 
their  readiness  in  taking  up  arms  in  a  national  cause,  their  expenses 
and  their  losses  by  the  continued  wars.  "I  claim,"  continued  he, 
"to  know  more  of  America  than  most  of  you,  having  seen  and  been 
conversant  with  that  country.  The  people,  I  believe,  are  as  truly 
loyal  as  any  subjects  the  king  has ;  but  a  people  jealous  of  their  lib- 
erties, and  who  will  vindicate  them  if  ever  they  should  be  violated." 

The  stamp  act  passed  the  house  of  commons  on  the  27th  of  Feb- 
ruary ;  a  few  days  later,  the  house  of  lords  concurred  without  debate; 
and  the  bill  received  a  quasi  assent  from  the  deranged  intellect  of 
George  III.  To  make  the  obnoxious  measure  more  tolerable,  it 
was  provided  that  all  revenues  to  be  derived  from  it,  should  be 
expended  exclusively  for  colonial  purposes.  Other  conciliatory 
enactments,  in  the  form  of  bounties  upon  importations,  and  the 
removal  of  sundry  burdensome  restrictions,  were  also  resorted  to  as 
an  offset  to  the  first  imposition  of  a  direct  tax.  It  was  generally 
supposed)  in  England,  that  the  measure  would  be  carried  out  with- 
out a  sign  of  forcible  opposition. 

The  tone  of  public  procedures  in  the  colonies,  upon  receipt  of 
intelligence  that  the  act  had  passed,  was  generally  moderate;  but  the 
passions  and  indignation  of  the  people,  lully  aroused,  were  only 
awaiting  fit  opportunity  to  break  forth  in  overt  resistance.  In  Vir- 
ginia, the  legislature  was  in  session  at  the  time,  but  its  leading  mem- 
bers held  aloof  from  taking  active  measures  in  opposition.  It  was 
reserved  for  a  young  man,  who  had  but  recently  taken  his  seat  in 
the  house,  to  introduce  and  support  a  series  of  resolutions,  setting 
forth  colonial  rights,  and  protesting  against  their  proposed  invasion. 
It  is  a  singular  fact,  concerning  those  who,  in  all  times,  have  possessed 
to  its  greatest  extent  the  wonderOil  gitl  of  eloquence,  that  little  or  noth- 


232 


TIIK  rjCUFLK'B  BOOK  OV  III8TURY. 


it)g  IiBH  l)eon  rt^corded  which  may  enable  us  to  judge  of  their  powers, 
f  Ncoptiiig  tliuciloctor  their  8poeuheti.  An  audience  carried  away  by 
iidiiiirutioii  and  Kyrnpnthetic  excitement,  iu  in  no  condition  to  remcrn- 
btir  and  perpetuuto  the  form  of  expression  by  which  the  tumult  of 
fooling  is  aroused.  It  has  been  reserved  for  those  who,  like  Cicero 
hnvo  nicely  ri^modellod  their  productions  to  meet  the  cool  criticism 
of  a  reader,  to  be  held  up  as  patterns  (  imitation.  The  flow  of 
forcible  and  unprcnioditutcd  words,  by  wuich  a  crowd  of  men,  pos- 
scHtiing  every  variety  of  character  and  temperament,  is  moved  to 
unanimity,  if  here  and  there  reported  in  detached  sentences,  loses 
all  the  force  lent  by  the  occasion,  the  state  of  mind  of  the  auditory, 
and  the  manner  of  the  speaker. 

Such  has  been  the  caae,  in  many  instances,  with  the  most  cele* 
brated  efTurUi  of  Burr,  Randolph,  and  others;  such,  upon  the  occa- 
sion of  which  wo  have  just  spoken,  was  that  of  Patrick  Henry.  We 
tire  only  told  that,  in  tunes  of  tK)ld  warning,  he  broke  forth,  in  the 
heat  of  argument,  with  the  expressions:  "Ca)sar  l.ad  his  Brutus— 
Charles  the  First  his  Cromwell — and  George  the  Third"  (here  he 
was  interrupted  by  a  cry  of  Treason!  from  the  speaker  and  many 
members,  but  he  firmly  continued) — "may  profit  by  their  example. 
If  that  be  treason,  make  the  most  of  it!" 

The  resolutions  were  passed,  after  vehement  debate:  the  conclud- 
ing section,  which  read  as  follows,  by  a  majority  of  one  only:  "He- 
solved,  therefore,  that  the  General  Assembly  of  this  colony  have  the 
sole  right  and  power  to  lay  taxes  and  impositions  upon  the  inhabit- 
ants of  this  colony  ;  and  that  every  attempt  to  vest  such  {X)W(t  in 
any  person  or  persons  whatsoever,  other  than  the  general  assembly 
aforesaid,  has  a  manifest  tendency  to  destroy  British  as  well  as 
American  freedom."  This  resolution  was  afterwards  struck  out 
upon  a  reconsideration,  during  the  absence  of  Henry,  but  it  had 
already  gone  abroad,  and  was  circulated  throughout  the  colonies. 

In  Massachu.Hctts,  a  more  important  meaaure  was  adopted,  at  the 
suggestion  of  James  Otis.  Jjetters  were  dispatched  to  the  general 
assemblies  of  all  the  separate  colonies,  requesting  and  advising  the 
appointment  of  a  committee  from  each,  to  meet  at  New  York  in  the 
ensuing  month  of  Octolwr,  and  deliberate  upon  what  could  be  done 
for  the  general  g(K)d  of  the  country.  No  allusion  was  made  to  any 
proposed  union  for  purjHJscs  of  resistance,  other  than  the  organization 
of  a  "united  re|»resentati'«n  to  implore  relief"  The  call  was  first 
rcspo.idod  to  by  the  legishilnre  of  South  Carolina. 


TUK   AMKKICAN   BEVOLUTION. 


283 


By  this  time,  the  flpeccbes  of  Barr6,  of  llcury,  of  Otia,  and  others, 
the  Virgiiiiu  reaolutioiiti,  the  call  of  Masauuhusetta,  and  the  reiterated 
argurncritfl  of  political  writom  on  both  sides  the  question,  were 
fuiuiliur  to  the  whole  people  of  Amerieo,  and  occupied  uuivorsal 
attonlion.  A  question,  at  tirst  uoininitted  to  the  management  of  the 
lenniud  and  intelligent,  a.st)umed  a  new  OBpeet  wbea  brought  home 
to  the  mindh  ofun  excited  {populace.  r>  :«■    ;  :ji;«  rtti    'i  • 

Those  residents  of  the  colonies  who  had  favoured  the  passage  of 
the  act,  and  those  who  had  received  appointment  to  the  office  of 
distribution  of  stamps,  first  felt  the  weight  of  lawless  popular  indig- 
nation. It  seemed  to  be  generally  determined  that  all  the  stamp 
officers  should  be  compelled  to  resign,  by  personal  violence,  should 
persuasion  fail. 

The  first  of  a  succession  of  mad  scenes — conducted,  however,  sys- 
tematically, and  with  deliberate  purpose — took  place  at  Boston,  on 
the  14th  of  August,  (1765.)  Andrew  Oliver,  the  appointed  stamp 
distributor,  was  hung  in  effigy  upon  a  noted  tree,  known  as  .  iC 
Boston  elm.  In  tlie  evening,  the  image  woa  byrned,  with  the  frag- 
meiits  t)f  a  building,  supposed  to  be  in  process  of  erection  for  a 
stump  office,  in  the  })resence  of  an  immense  cor  'ourse.  Oliver  ;  "r- 
ceived,  from  the  demeanour  of  the  crowd,  that  his  only  safet}  con 
sistod  in  compliance  with  the  popular  demand,  and  he  resigned  his 
office  accordingly. 

The  office  of  the  court  of  admiralty,  rendered  obnoxious  by  the 
provisions  of  the  "sugar  act,"  was  next  attacked.  On  the  night  of 
the  2f)th,  the  records  were  destroyed,  and  the  house  of  Story,  comp- 
troller of  customs,  was  broken  open,  and  his  furniture  demolished. 
Hutchinson,  the  lieut»'nant-governor,  sulVered  similar  outrage  upon 
his  property  on  the  same  night.  This  officer  had  become  unpopular 
from  various  circumstances,  but  the  principal  cry  against  him,  at 
this  time,  was  for  having  favoured  the  stamp  act. 

The  example  of  Mo-^sachnsetts  was  followed  in  Hii-- ue  Island,  New 
York,  and  New  Jersey,  and  with  similar  results.  The  stamp  dis- 
tributor of  Maryland  fleil  from  popular  violence  to  New  York. 
Oil  many  of  these  occasions,  the  active  ngeiis  were  not  the  most 
respectable  portion  of  the  community,  but,  except  where  they  over- 
stepped the  bounds  of  r  nson,  and  wantonly  invaded  private  prop- 
erty, their  proceedings  met  with  general  favour.  All  attempts  at 
bringing  individuals  of  ihe  rioters  to  account  for  the  outrages  com- 
mitted, were  soon  abandoned. 


284 


THE  PEOPLE'S   BOOK  OF   HI8T0BY. 


The  Other  colonies  'exhibited  the  ecme  state  of  public  sentiment 
and  the  officers  commissioned  to  distribute  stamps,  either  declined 
serving,  or  gave  such  public  pledges  as  satisfied  the  people.  Tt  was 
plain  that  no  stamps  would  be  allowed  to  be  sold.  Ingersoil,  the 
stamp  officer  for  Connecticut,  at  first  refused  to  submit  to  the  popu- 
lar  requisition,  announcing  his  intention  of  submitting  the  matter  to 
the  general  assembly.  He  was  on  his  way  to  Hartford,  for  that 
purpose,  when  he  was  intercepted,  near  Wethersfield,  by  a  body  of 
some  hundreds  of  the  substantial  inhabitants  of  the  colony,  who,  in 
military  array,  although  armed  only  with  staves,  required  of  him 
an  immediate  resignation.  The  object  of  the  company  was  to  avoid 
the  disagreeable  consequences  of  any  action  by  the  assembly — as  the 
colony  might  be  held  responsible  for  its  public  acts,  while,  as  indi- 
viduals, they  felt  little  apprehension  of  any  dangerous  results  from 
their  proceedings.  Ingersoil  betrayed  no  unworthy  pusillanimity; 
but  when  he  perceived  the  determination  of  the  people  to  prevent 
him  from  communicating  with  the  assembly,  and  even  to  proceed 
to  personal  violence,  should  he  refuse  to  accede  to  their  demands, 
he  signed  a  written  resignation,  and,  at  the  direction  of  the  crowd, 
shouted  for  "Liberty  and  property." 

Of  the  packages  of  stamped  paper  which  arrived  in  the  country, 
some  were  seized  and  destroyed  by  the  populace,  and  the  rest  re- 
mained packed  and  unnoticed.  / 


CWAPT'CP     TTT 
iLoitilirxjjXi     III, 

SB8SI0N  OP  THE  FIRST  AMERICAN  CONGRESS:  MODERATE  TONE 
OP    ITS    PROCEEDINGS:    CONCURRENCE  OF  THE    SEPARATE 
COLONIES. — THE  STAMP   ACT   NUGATORY.  —  THE    ENG- 
LISH MINISTRY. — DEBATE  IN  PARLIAMENT. — PPEECH 
OF     PITT.  —  EXAMINATION     OF     FRANKLIN. — 
REPEAL    OF    THE    STAMP    ACT. 


On  the  7th  of  October,  1765,  the  first  American  congress  assem- 
bled at  New  York.  A  regular  delegation  was  present  from  six  of 
the  colonier,  viz:  Massachusetts,  Rhode  Island,  Connecticut,  Penn- 
sylvania, Marylaiitl,  and  South  Carolitia;  New  York,  Delaware,  and 


THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION. 


28d 


New  Jersey  were  also  represented,  although  not  by  a  regular  ap- 
pointment of  their  houses  of  assembly.  The  legislature  of  North 
Carolina,  not  having  been  in  session,  could  make  no  delegation,  but 
the  cooperation  of  this  colony,  as  well  as  that  of  New  Hampshire, 
could  be  depended  upon,  in  the  work  to  be  accomplished.  The 
assent  of  Georgia  was  obtained  during  the  session. 

It  was  agreed  that  the  votes  should  be  taken  by  colonies,  neither 
claiming  preeminence  by  virtue  of  superior  extent  or  population. 
The  congress  sat  about  three  weeks,  during  which  time  a  declaration 
of  rights,  and  petitions  and  memorials  to  the  king  and  parliament, 
were  drawn  up,  debated,  and  finally  agreed  to,  nearly  unanimously. 
AH  question  of  proposed  admission  to  representation  in  the  English 
parliament  was  abandoned  as  impracticable,  and  the  colonies,  without 
menace  or  unseemly  violence,  recapitulated  the  claims  so  often 
urged,  that,  by  natural  right,  by  magna  charta,  and  their  own  private 
charters,  the  right  of  taxation,  as  well  as  that  of  the  management 
of  all  internal  government,  was  vested  in  their  own  houses  of  assem- 
bly.   The  infringement  of  the  right  of  trial  by  jury,  in  the  extension 
of  admiralty  jurisdiction,  by  the  provisions  of  the  sugar  act,  was 
also  animadverted  upon. 

The  spirit  of  the  resolutions  and  memorials  adopted  by  congress, 
met  with  a  hearty  response  from  the  people.  The  New  York  mer- 
chants agreed  to  discontinue  all  importation  from  England  until  the 
repeal  of  the  obnoxious  act.  Their  example  was  followed  exten- 
sively in  many  of  the  other  colonies,  and  plans  were  set  on  foot  for 
the  encouragement  and  support  of  domestic  manufactures,  and  for 
devising  substitutes  for  articles  of  luxury,  comfort,  or  necessity, 
hitherto  imported  from  the  old  country.  Several  of  the  colonial 
legislatures  commented  upon  and  approved  the  doings  of  the  con- 
gress of  deputies,  and  those  few  members  who  had  stood  aloof  from 
or  opposed  the  proceedings,  received  tokens  of  marked  displeasure 
from  their  fellow-members  and  constituents. 

All  attempts  to  enforce  the  stamp  act  (which  was  to  go  into  oper- 
ation on  the  1st  of  November)  proved  utterly  vain.  Business  was 
conducted  without  the  use  of  the  stamps,  in  defiance  of  the  restrict- 
ive provisions  of  the  law,  and  where  this  could  not  be  done  in 
safety,  as  in  some  of  the  courts,  various  evasions  were  resorted  to, 
and  suita  were  continued  or  laferred  to  arbitrament.  As  yet,  all 
efforts  pointed  simply  to  the  repeal  of  the  law,  and  a  modification  of 
the  obnoxious  features  of  the  provisions  for  the  levy  of  customs. 


236 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


News  of  these  proceedings,  and  of  the  turn  of  public  affairs  in 
America,  reached  England  during  the  administration  of  Rocking, 
ham.  Grenville  and  his  companions  in  the  cabinet,  who  might 
have  felt  bound  to  make  use  of  every  expedient,  violent  or  politic 
for  the  maintenance  of  an  act  so  deliberately  framed*  and  passed 
with  so  little  opposition  as  the  one  in  question,  were  out  of  office 
and  the  new  incumbents  were  in  a  position  to  look  dispassionately 
at  the  consequences  of  persistance  in  carrying  out  the  arbitrary 
principles  recently  adopted.  The  question  was,  indeed,  argued 
rather  as  one  of  policy  than  of  right,  for  the  great  majority  in  par- 
liament, and  in  the  cabinet,  had  hitherto  looked  upon  the  power  of 
the  former  to  lay  and  enforce  discretionary  taxes  as  beyond  dispute. 
It  was  easy  to  point  to  the  gross  inequality  of  representation  in 
England,  where  populous  towns  and  districts  had  no  share  in  the 
electoral  privilege,  for  precedents.  The  colonies  of  the  continental 
nations  of  Europe  presumed  to  make  no  question  as  to  the  right 
and  power  of  the  home  governments  to  impose  burdens  far  heavier 
and  of  a  far  more  arbitrary  and  oppressive  character,  than  those  now 
complained  of;  and  it  would  be  to  the  last  degree  humiliating  to 
England,  if,  while  deaf  to  the  respectful  entreaties  of  the  provinces 
she  should  be  swayed  from  her  course  by  the  first  threats  of  forcible 
opposition. 

In  December,  (1765,)  parliament  met,  and  the  whole  subject  was 
rSconsidered  and  debated  at  length.  No  determinate  conclusion  was 
arrived  at  during  the  short  session,  and  an  adjournment  for  a  few 
weeks  gave  opportunity  for  the  transmission  of  further  intelligence 
from  the  seat  of  disturbance.  It  became  matter  of  notoriety  that, 
in  America,  the  power  of  parliament  was  universally  questioned 
often  defied,  and  that  people  began  to  speak  *'  in  the  most  familiar 
manner"  of  the  possibility  of  open  rupture,  and  the  probable  con- 
sequences of  war  with  the  parent-country. 

At  the  January  session,  the  aged  William  Pitt  was  present,  and, 
notwithstan'Mng  his  infirm  health,  took  an  open  stand  in  opposition 
to  the  Grenville  schemes  of  taxation — and  to  all  direct  taxation  of 
the  colonies  by  parliament — avguing  the  questions  at  issue  with  his 
usual  power  and  perspicuity.  He  pointed  out  the  sophistry  of  the 
supporters  of  the  measuros  under  examination ;  in  reply  to  invec- 
tives, he  uttered  the  most  biting  sarcasms;  and,  in  plain  terms,  free 
from  technicalities,  he  maintained  the  rights  of  the  colonies,  and 
approved  their  opposition.     "I  rejoice,"  said  he,  "that  America  has 


THE  AMERICAN   REVOLUTION. 


237 


resisted.  If  its  millions  of  inhabitants  had  submitted,  taxes  would 
soon  have  been  laid  on  Ireland;  and  if  ever  this  nation  should  have' 
a  tyrant  for  its  king,  six  millions  of  freemen,  so  dead  to  all  the  feel- 
ings of  liberty,  as  voluntarily  to  submit  to  be  slaves,  would  be  fit 
instruments  to  make  slaves  of  the  rest." 

That  America  could  eflfectually  resist  the  power  of  England,  he 
thought  grossly  improbable.  "  In  a  good  cause,  on  a  sound  bottom," 
he  proceeded,  "the  force  of  this  country  can  crush  America  to 
atoms."  *  *  "The  will  of  parliament,  properly  signified,  must 
for  ever  keep  the  colonies  dependent  upon  the  sovereign  kingdom 
of  Great  Britain.  But,  on  this  ground  of  the  stamp  act,  when  so 
many  here  will  think  it  a  crying  injustice,  I  am  one  who  will  lift  up 
my  hands  against  it.  In  such  a  cause  your  success  would  be  haz- 
ardous. America,  if  she  fell,  would  fall  like  the  strong  man ;  she 
would  embrace  the  pillar?  of  the  state,  and  pull  down  the  constitu- 
tion along  with  her."*  ^ 

He  coupled  these  strong  denunciations  of  the  proposed  direct 
taxation  with  complete  approval  of  the  exercise  of  jurisdiction  by 
parliament  over  all  '^".atters  of  trade  and  the  regulation  of  manufac- 
tures, claiming  to  perceive  "a  plain  distinction  between  taxes  levied 
for  the  purposes  of  raising  revenue,  and  duties  imposed  for  the  regu- 
lation of  trade  for  the  accommodation  of  the  subject,  although,  in  the 
consequences,  some  revenue  may  accidentally  arise  from  the  latter." 

A  large  majority,  both  of  the  commons  and  of  the  house  of  lords, 
still  favoured  the  English  claims  in  their  broadest  extent,  and  a 
resolution  was  prepared,  declaring  that  the  powers  of  the  king  and 
parliament,  in  legislating  for  the  colonies,  were  absolutely  without 
limit.  When  the  question  of  the  stamp  act  was  brought  directly 
before  the  house  of  lords,  those  opposed  to  repeal,  prevailed  by  a 
small  majority.  In  the  other  house,  the  motion  to  repeal  was  con- 
sidered, rather  as  a  question  of  present  policy,  than  as  a  test  of 
future  rights  and  powers.  Benjamin  Franklin,  at  this  time  one  of 
the  most  prominent  among  the  public  supporters  of  freedom  in 
America,  underwent  a  long  examination  at  the  bar  of  the  house. 
His  clear  and  lucid  exposition  of  the  American  claims,  his  accurate 
statistical  knowledge,  and  his  acquaintance  with  the  character,  spirit, 
and  local  politics  of  the  colonies,  enabled  him  to  throw  much  light 
upon  the  question,  and  appear  to  have  produced  a  powerful  e£fect. 
He  positively  insisted  that  the  enforcement  of  the  stamp  act  was 

*  Bancroft 


288 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


physically  impossible.  "Suppose,"  said  he,  "a  military  force  sent 
into  America;  they  will  find  nobody  in  arms.  What  are  they  then 
to  do?  They  cannot  force  a  man  to  take  stamps  who  chooses  to  do 
without  them.  They  will  not  find  a  rebellion:  they  may,  indeed 
make  one."  When  the  attempt  waa  made  to  remove  all  distinction 
between  direct  taxes  and  imposts  on  importations,  by  the  suggestion 
that  these  were  often  articles  necessary  for  life;  he  replied,  "The 
people  may  refuse  commodities,  of  which  the  duty  makes  a  part  of 
the  price;  but  an  internal  tax  is  forced  from  them  without  their 
consent."  And  again:  "I  do  not  know  a  single  article  imported 
into  the  northern  colonies,  but  what  they  can  either  do  without  or 
make  themselves."* 

The  repeal — coupled,  however,  with  the  declaration  before  referred 
to,  that  parliament  still  retained  absolute  power  in  this  as  in  all  other 
colonial  legislation — was  carried  by  a  very  decided  majority.  The 
house  of  lords  reluctantly  concurred,  and  the  bill  received  the  royal 
assent  on  tha  18th  of  March,  1766.  The  result  gave  great  satisfac- 
tion to  the  commercial  portion  of  the  inhabitants  of  England ;  and 
the  receipt  of  the  intelligence  in  America  was  a  signal  for  universal 
acclamation  and  rejoicing. 


CUADTI?D      Tir 
U,  li,  i    I   Jii  £\     IV. 

INTERVAL    GP    QDIET.  —  NEW    TAXES    ON    IHPORTAIIONS.— 
NON-IMPORTATION    AGREEMENT.  —  CIRCULAR    OP    MAS- 
SACHUSETTS.—  RIOTS  AT  BOSTON.  —  ASSEMBLIES  DIS- 
SOLVED.— TROOPS  ORDERED  TO  BOSTON.  —  MEASURES 
OP  THE  BRITISH  GOVERNMENT.  —  FATAL  ENCOUN- 
TER BETWEEN  THE  TROOPS  AND  POPULACE  AT 
BOSTON. — CONCESSIONS  OP  PARLIAMENT. 


A  8H0RT  period  of  comparative  repose  ensued  upon  the  settlement 
of  the  stamp  question.  Those  who  had  suffered  in  the  popular  dis- 
turbances in  New  York  and  Massachusetts,  were  indemnified  for 
their  losses  by  the  acta  of  the  general  assemblies.  In  the  latter 
colony,  however,  this  concession  to  the  royalista  waa  accompanied 

*  Bancroft. 


THE   AMERICAN   REVOLUTION. 


289 


by  a  general  act  of  amnesty  for  tlie  protection  of  the  individual 
rioters.  The  "  sugar  act,"  somewhat  modified  during  the  late  session 
of  parliament,  still  remained  a  bone  of  contention. 

Under  the  Pitt  administration,  which  succeeded  that  of  Rocking- 
ham, Townshend,  Gren^Ue's  staunchest  supporter,  held  the  ofl&ce 
of  chancellor  of  the  exchequer.  In  this  capacity,  he  introduced  and 
carried  through  a  new  system  of  duties  for  the  colonies,  by  which 
imposts  were  laid  upon  various  articles  hitherto  exempt.  A  portion 
of  these  were  of  British  production,  as  paints,  paper,  glass,  &c.  A 
epecific  duty  of  three  pence  a  pound  was  laid  on  tea.  The  bill  was, 
avowedly,  for  the  sole  purpose  of  obtaining  revenue  by  indirect  or 
external  taxation.  This  and  other  odious  measures,  previously 
passed,  respecting  the  maintenance  of  a  standing  army,  and  the 
quartering  of  troops  upon  the  inhabitants  during  their  removal  from 
place  to  place,  stirred  up  al!  former  ill  feelings.  The  ground  was 
now  generally  taken  bv  political  agitators  in  America,  that  a  tax  on 
importations,  if  for  revenue  purposes  merely,  was  no  more  defensible 
than  a  direct  tax. 

In  October,  1767,  a  movement  was  commenced  at  Boston,  at  a 
public  meeting,  for  the  encouragement  of  native  manufactures,  ana 
the  organization  of  a  system  of  non-importation  from  England.  A 
more  important  step  was  taken  at  the  session  of  the  general  assem- 
bly for  Massachusetts,  in  the  year  pucceeding;  a  circular-letter  being, 
by  a  vote  of  the  house,  prepared,  and  dispatched  to  all  the  othei 
colonial  legislatures,  urging  the  necessity  for  union  in  support  of  the 
rights  of  the  provinces. 

Foremost  in  these  popular  proceedings,  were  two  men  of  widely 
different  character,  age,  and  worldly  condition.  Samuel  Adams, 
the  poor  but  uncompromising  patriot,  whose  bold,  energetic  and 
able  disquisitions  upon  American  rights  and  policy  had  already 
gained  him  wide  celebrity,  and  John  Hancock,  who  possessed  youth, 
fortune,  and  an  ardent  temperament.  A  small  vessel  ";  longing  to 
the  latter  was  seized,  in  the  month  of  June,  1768,  as  iiaving  been 
engaged  in  smuggling  winps  from  Madeira.  This  gave  occasion  for 
an  outbreak,  and  the  commissioners  of  revenue — officers  recently 
appointed  by  parliament,  for  th'»  superintendence  of  customs,  &c. — 
were  forced  to  seek  protection  iVom  the  mob  in  one  of  the  forts  of 
the  harbour. 

The  assembly  of  Massachusetts  was  required  by  the  governor, 
Bernard,  to  rescind  the  circular  before  mentioned,  and,  upon  refusal 
Vol.  1V.-44 


i 


if 


.^  I 


&?^' 


240 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  BI8T0K7. 


by  ;• "  'uge  vote,  was  dissolved.  A  favourable  reception  of  the  rebel- 
lioub  iAessage,  produced  similar  results  in  Virginia,  Maryland,  and 
Georgia.  The  New  York  asbcmbly,  proving  refractory  upon  th<5 
question  of  quartering  British  troops,  was  also  dismit;se(3  by  the 
governor.  In  Massachusetts,  the  inhabitants  of  the  ;'i<?verl  lowna, 
untible  to  speak  t'arough  legal  representatives,  elected  'ielcg^i/s  to  i>. 
convention,  whose  proceedings,  if  unaccompmied  with  lepv«mte 
authority,  might,  at  least,  show  to  tl.e  world  the  true  sentiments  of 
the  people. 

I'or  enforcing  the  revenue  liiws,  as  wo''  as  for  th«  preservation  of 
order  in  the  turbulent  city  oi  Boston,  General  Gage,  con.  rr -xttder-in- 
chief  of  the  British  forces  in  America,  onl^Tcd  tLitbei  two  regimuota 
of  reguUrs  from  TI  uifax.  He  had  receivea  pmvioua  instruction'^  to 
this  eiffivit  fioni  government,  but  it  was  not  t?  en  suppoat^d  thiv.  ,  » 
lujge  a  .'  >;■;•(;  would  be  necessary  to  effect  the  purpose.  Th<i  author- 
ities refused  lo  ;  -oviclc  quariers  for  the  troops,  alleging  that  there 
wos  accom.>..^f^'',tio!i  for  them  at  the  regular  barracks;  but  Gage 
was  dotermiu;-'!  to  qus.rter  them  within  the  town,  and  accordingly  a 
pijition  eucnriiped  on  the  common,  and  most  of  the  others  took 
possession  of  the  state-houte.  Cannon  were  planted  in  front,  and 
an  ostentatious  display  of  military  force  served  U>  enrage  and  em- 
biti.»r  the  feelings  of  the  inhabitants. 

Acoommodalions  for  the  soldiery  could  only  be  procured  by  an 
appropriation  of  the  army  funds,  which  was  accordingly  made, 
and  full  accounts  of  the  fractious  spirit  of  the  colony  were  forwarded 
to  England.  The  news  excited  a  great  degree  of  public  indignation; 
parliament  proceeded  lo  pass  resolutions  of  censure  against  the  colo- 
nies, and — a  matter  of  graver  importance — voted  instructions  to  the 
respective  governors,  for  the  seizure  nnd  transportation  to  England, 
for  trial,  of  the  loaders  in  disloyalty. 

The  legislature  of  Virginia,  at  the  session  in  May,  1769,  remon- 
strnted  against  this  infringement  of  the  rights  of  ^  ._  ns,  which, 
although  sanctioned  by  an  ancient  law  respecting  treasons  committed 
abroad,  was  opposed  to  all  principles  of  liberty  and  justice.  Reso- 
luti(>ii8  upon  this  topic,  embracing  also  a  general  proclamation  of 
colonial  rights,  were  transmitted  to  the  other  colonies.  The  conse- 
quence was  a  speedy  dissolution  of  the  aasemblv  by  the  governor. 
Lord  Botetourt.  -The  non-im|K)rtaiion  agreemc  .w,  shortly  after 
this,  extensively  adopted,  both  in  Virginia  ami  •  r  of  the  south- 
ern prov'.nw  ;. 


1^ 


■'^■^^^  eel 


s 


THE   AMERICAN   REVOLUTION. 


241 


The  Massachusetts  legislature,  at  the  same  period,  refused  posi- 
tively to  appropriate  funds  for  the  army  expenses.     Requisition  was 
made  for  the  removal  of  the  troops,  and  upon  the  governor's  re- 
sponse that  this  was  beyond  the  pale  of  his  authority,  all  legislative 
business  was  stayed,  with  the  exception  of  indignant  discussion  of 
the  public  wrongs.    In  March  of  the  following  year,  the  mutual 
hatred  between  the  citizens  of  Boston  and  the  hired  soldiery  quar- 
tered among  them,  aggravated  by  insults  and  injuries  on  either  side, 
broke  out  in  open  hostilities.    On  the  evening  of  the  5th  of  the 
month,  a  small  body  of  soldiers,  commanded  by  a  Captain  Preston, 
was  attacked  by  a  mob,  and,  without  orders  from  their  officer,  fired 
upon  the  crowd,  in  self-defence.     Four  persons  were  killed  by  the 
discharge,  and  a  number  were  wounded.    The  rage  of  the  citizens,  at 
this  occurrence,  was  so  great,  that  it  was  deemed  advisable  to  remove 
the  troops  from  the  town  to  the  barracks  at  Castle  "W  illiam.    This 
being  effected,  those  who  had  perished  in  the  riot  were  buried  with 
great  ceremony,  the  whole  population  taking  part  in  the  exercises  of 
the  occasion,  as  if  in  commemoration  of  some  national  calamity. 

The  soldiers  implicated  in  the  alleged  massacre  were  indicted  for 
murder.  They  received  a  fair  and  impartial  trial,  being  ably  defended 
by  John  Adams  and  Josiah  Quincy,  both  of  whom  were  known  as 
ardent  advocates  of  the  popular  cause.  Conclusive  evidence  was 
found  against  two  only  of  the  accused;  these  were  convicted  of. man- 
slaughter, and  received  but  a  light  punishment. 

In  New  York,  the  temporary  ascendency  of  the  "  moderate  party" 
resulted  in  submission  to  the  requisitions  of  the  quartering  act,  but 
the  same  state  of  feeling  existed  there  as  in  Boston  between  the 
troops  and  the  populace. 

Some  concession  was  made  by  parliament,  in  1770,  to  the  demands 
of  the  colonies  and  the  petitions  of  the  English  merchants.  The 
duties  on  articles  of  British  produce,  &c.,  included  in  the  list  of  com- 
modities taxable  under  the  regulations  introduced  by  Townshend, 
were  all  removed,  on  motion  of  Lord  North,  with  the  exception'  of 
that  on  tea.  This  was  retained  simply  as  an  assertion  of  principle; 
for,  while  parliament  evidently  desired  to  conciliate  and  assist  the 
Ameripan  colonies,  I*  -rs  plain  that  the  great  majority  of  the  people 
of  Erii;i;uid  and  rheir  reprpsentntives  still  retained  all  their  former 
'l.'_-  respecting  the  b-vereign  power  of  the  home  government 


i:  v'l 


"I 


242 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


r  n  A  p  T  T?  p    "W 


PARTT    SPIRIT    ly  THE   COLONIES.  —  WHIG   AND   TORT. — THE 
REGULATORS  OP  NORTH  CAROLINA.  —  HUTCHINSON,  GOVERNOR 
OP   MASSACHUSETTS.  —  DESTRUCTION   OP  THE  GASPEE. — 
SYSTEM     OP     POLITICAL     COMMUNICATION     BETWEEN 
THE  COLONIES.  —  TEA   DISPATCHED  TO  AMERICA   BY 
THE    EAST    INDiA    COMPANY. — REFUSAL    OF  THE 
COLONISTS     TO     REC2IYE     IT. VIOLENT    PRO- 
CEEDINGS   AT     BOSTON:     CLOSURE     OF    THE 
PORT.  —  EXTENSION    OF    CANADA. 


The  bitterness  of  party  spirit,  by  this  time,  throughout  the  colo- 
nies, was  added  to  that  of  jealousy  and  resistance  to  oppression.  The 
loyalists,  under  the  name  of  tones,  and  the  whigs,  who  constituted 
the  popular  party,  looked  upon  each  other  with  distrust  and  indig. 
nation.  Between  neighbours  and  former  friends,  and  between 
members  of  the  same  family,  a  strife  was  engendered,  rancorous  in 
proportion  to  the  depth  of  either  party's  convictions. 

The  names  of  whig  and  tory  were  applied,  at  this  period,  to  two 
parties  in  the  Carolinas;  the  first,  self-styled  regulators,  who  origin- 
ally organized  themselves  as  a  party  for  the  summary  punishment 
of  criminals,  in  a  country  where  the  population  was  sparse,  and  the 
course  of  justice  t.irdy ;  the  second,  their  opponent",  known  also  by 
other  titles.  In  North  Carolina,  those  calling  themselves  "regu- 
lators," consisted  of  ignorant  inhnbitunts  of  the  nv<!o  barren  dis- 
tricts, and  were  simply  combined  to  resist  all  civil  authority.  The 
difficulties  which  arose  from  the  existence  of  such  a  party,  rosulteii 
in  actual,  though  brief,  civil  war.  In  May,  1771,  "Governor  Tryoi^ 
at  the  head  of  a  body  of  volunteers,  marched  into  the  disaflected 
counties.  The  rej'ulators  assembled  in  amis,  and  an  action  wai 
fought  at  Alamance,  on  the  Haw,  near  the  head-waters  of  Capi 
Fear  river,  in  which  some  two  hundred  were  left  dead  upon  th« 
field.  Out  of  a  large  number  taken  prisoners,  six  were  executed  for 
high  treason."*  The  g(M)d-will  of  this  turbulent  faction  was  concil- 
iated by  a  subsequent  governor,  Joseph  Martin. 

In  the  north,  causes  of  discontent  with  English  authority  were 

•  IlildretirH  lliittory  of  the  United  StaUsa. 


'"11 


THE   AMERICAN   REVOLUTION. 


243 


multiplied,  notwithstanding  the  concessions  of  parliament.  Hutch- 
inson, upon  receiving  the  appointment  of  governor  of  Massachusetts, 
in  1771,  was  made  independent  of  the  colony  by  the  settlement  upon 
him  of  a  large  salary  to  be  paid  by  the  crown.  This  gave  great  dis- 
satisfaction, inasmuch  as  the  governor  and  colony  were  no  longer 
bound  by  a  common  interest.  The  measure,  it  is  true,  had  been 
provoked  by  a  neglect  on  the  part  of  the  assembly  to  make  the 
usual  appropriation  for  the  governor's  salary. 

Fulfilment  of  the  non-importation  agreement  had  been  gradually 
relaxed  in  most  of  the  colonies,  except  in  regard  to  the  one  article 
of  tea,  which,  being  alone  retained  of  that  list  made  out  for  revenue 
purposes  merely,  stood  as  a  representative  of  all  the  rest.  The  old 
regulations  of  trade,  as  provided  for  in  the  "  sugar  act,"  were  still 
enforced,  and  a  number  of  vessels,  armed  for  the  revenue  service, 
were  employed  on  the  coast.  One  of  these,  named  the  Gaspee,  had 
become  particularly  obnoxious  to  the  people  of  Rhode  Island.  She 
interfered  most  inconveniently  in  their  smuggling  transactions;  and 
her  officers,  moreover,  in  carrying  out  their  instructions,  had,  by 
arrogance  and  arbitrary  conduct,  excited  popular  ill-will.  While 
stationed  in  Narragansett  Bay,  this  vessel,  by  a  stratagem,  was 
decoyed  upon  a  shoal,  and,  as  she  lay  aground,  was  attacked  and 
burned  by  a  party  from  Providence,  on  the  night  of  June  10th, 
1772.  Great  efforts  were  made  to  secure  the  punishment  '  f  the 
perpetrators  of  this  act  of  violence,  but  they  were  so  shielded  by  the 
favour  of  the  people,  that  no  conclusive  evidence  could  be  obtain*.  , 
against  them,  although  they  were  identified  by  common  report 
The  appointment  of  a  special  court  for  their  trial,  and  the  offer  of  a 
large  reward  for  evidence,  alike  failed  to  bring  the  offenders  to 
punishment 

Agitation  of  political  questions,  throughout  this  period,  was  con- 
tinually kept  up  by  private  associations  and  corresponding  commit- 
tees of  different  towns  and  districts.  This  movement,  originating 
in  New  England,  led  to  a  more  general  system  of  union,  in  conse- 
quence of  action  by  the  Virginia  legislature.  A  copy  of  "  ••  o- 
ceedings  in  the  Massachusetts  assembly,  in  which  the  contijveitiy 
with  the  governor  also  involved  general  discussion  of  grievances, 
having  been  forwarded  to  that  body,  a  committee  was  regularly 
appointed  to  inquire  into  the  questions  at  issue,  and  to  communicate 
thereupon  with  the  other  colonies.  The  assembly  was,  in  eonse- 
qnero^--   dissolved  by  the  governor,  but  the  committee  proceeded, 


1;J>! 


24i 


TUE  I'EOl'LE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


notwitlistnudiiig,  to  fulfil  their  instructions.  This  example  was 
followed  by  the  coloiiios  of  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  New  Hamp- 
shire, Rhode  Islainl,  l^ennsylvania,  and  Maryland.  Such  an  organ- 
ization proved  of  'h" 'viuu.-  ^o  service  at  the  cornmen^ciiient  of  the 
contest  upon  v-'ti','^i  t;  ,  .ntry  was  about  to  enter.  A  publication, 
by  Doctor  I'Miikiin,  then  agent  for  Massachusetts,  as  well  as  for 
several  oth<;T  of  the  colonies,  in  England,  of  certain  letters  written 
by  Hutchinson  and  other  loyalists,  excited  great  indignation.  These 
letters,  which  were  never  intended  to  meet  the  public  eye,  spoke 
conten  ptuously  of  the  popular  pa-tv  .  ^d  recommended  stringent 
measures  for  coercion. 

Opportunity  was  not  long  wanting  for  open  demonstration  of  the 
true  state  of  feeling  in  the  colonies.  As  already  mentioned,  the 
i^[~eement  to  import  no  tea  had  been  generally  observed,  and  the 
East  India  Company,  receiving  no  orders  from  American  merchants, 
made  the  ecessary  arrangements  for  carrying  on  the  trade  by  their 
own  agent. .  Consignees  were  appointed  in  the  more  important  sea- 
ports, and  a  number  of  vessels  were  freighted  and  dispatched.  In 
New  York  and  Philadelphia,  these  agents,  alarmed  at  the  threats 
of  the  people,  thought  it  the  part  of  safety  not  to  enter  upon  the 
duties  of  their  appointment,  anJ  the  vessels  were  obliged  to  return 
to  England  with  their  cargoes.  In  Boston  the  consigrn  i  refused 
to  resign  their  agency,  and  in  the  midst  of  the  excitement  attendant 
upon  their  contumacy,  several  vessels  arrived  loaded  with  tea. 

A  considerable  body  of  citizens  stationed  themselves  as  a  watch, 
to  preclude  the  possibility  of  a  secret  landing,  and  the  captain  and 
consignees  were  notified  llat  the  only  safe  course  for  them  to  pur- 
sue, was  immediately  to  con  ply  with  the  popular  demand,  that  the 
tea  be  sent  ha?]c  to  Kagland.  Bit,  upon  application  at  the  custom- 
house, no  cleai.iice  could  be  effc  ,'d  without  a  landing  of  the  cargo, 
and  the  governor  refused  a  permit  to  pass  the  defensive  works  of 
the  castle. 

The  citizens  held  repeated  m^  ^<  meetings,  m  whioh  the  question 
was  fully  discussed,  and  nearly  ui»anim'>us  resolutiors  wero  adopted 
to  resist  to  the  last  extremity  all  '  mpts  at  landing  the  tea.  They 
were  in  session  (December  th,  1773)  when  the  definitive  reply  of 
the  governor,  respecting  ,  ^,  w  ■;  received.  ''A  violent  commo- 
tion instantly  ensued.  A  -wrson  isguised  after  the  manner  of  the 
Indians,  who  was  in  the  gallery,  shouted  at  this  juncture  the  cry 
of  war:  the  meeting  was  dissolved  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye.    The 


THE   AMERICA 


lEVOLUTION. 


24") 


multitude  rushed  in  mass  to  GrifRn's  wharf.  About  twenty  persons, 
also  disguised  as  Indians,  then  made  their  appearance;  all  either 
masters  of  ships,  carpenters,  or  caulkers.  They  went  on  board  the 
ships  laden  with  tea.  In  less  than  two  hours,  three  hundred  and 
Ibrty  chests  were  staved,  and  emptied  in  the  sea.  They  were  not 
interrupted:  the  surrounding  multitude  on  shore  served  them  as  a 
safe  guard.  The  affair  was  conducted  without  tumult:  no  damage 
was  done  to  the  ships,  or  to  any  other  effects  whatever."* 

The  consequence  of  these  acts  of  violence  was  the  immediate 
passage,  by  parliament,  of  the  act  known  as  the  "Boston  port  bill," 
by  which  the  port  was  closed  against  all  importations,  the  custom- 
house being  removed  to  Salem,  This  restriction  was  not  to  be 
removed  until  full  compensation  should  be  made  for  the  damage 
done  by  the  populace.  On  motion  of  North,  a  further  enactment 
passed,  by  a  very  large  mji'  'rity,  for  giving  the  appointment  of  all 
civil  and  judicial  officers  i  Massachusetts  directly  to  the  crown. 
It  was  also  enacted  that^  at  any  future  prosecution  for  "homicide 
or  otlier  capital  offence"  committed  in  support  of  lawful  authority, 
the  governor  might  send  the  accused  out  of  the  colony  for  trial, 
either  to  another  province,  or  to  England,  if  it  appeared  to  him 
necessary  so  to  afford  security  against  popular  prejudice. 

In  ant'cipation  of  the  possible  result  of  such  violent  measures, 
act  ore  passed  for  the  further  regulation  of  government  in  Canada, 
the  bounds  of  which  province  were  extended  "so  as  to  embrace 
the  territory  situated  between  the  lakes,  the  river  Ohio,  and  the 
Minsissippi." 

*  Otia'  Botta. 


246 


THE   PEOI'LE'S    BOOK   OF   UI8T0BY. 


CHAPTER    vl. 


OAOB,   OOTERNOR   OP   MASSACHUSETTS:    MILITAUT    PREPARA- 
TIONS   MINUTB-MKN.  —  DISTRESS  IN  BOSTON;   SYMPATHY  OP 
OTHER  T'  WN8.  —  CONVENTION  PROPOSED  BY  VIRGINIA:  DEL- 
EGATES  CHOSEN    BY    THE    COLONIES. — THE    CONTINENTAL 
CONGRESS:    RESOLUTIONS   AND   DECLARATION   ADOPTED. 
—  VIOLENT    MEASURES    OF    PARLIAMENT. 


In  May,  1774,  General  Gage,  having  received  the  appointment 
of  governor  of  Masaachuaetts,  in  place  of  Hutchinson,  arrived  in 
Boston.  lie  was,  personally,  held  in  much  greater  esteem  than  hia 
predecessor,  and  met  with  a  suitable  reception,  notwithstanding  the 
general  state  of  disorder  and  indignation  at  the  speedy  enforcement 
of  the  port  bill,  which  was  to  go  into  operation  on  the  1st  of  June. 
A  number  of  regiments  of  regulars  were  concentrated  at  the  town 
for  the  purpose  of  overawing  the  inhabitants,  and,  under  the  direc- 
tions of  the  general,  defensive  works  were  erected  on  the  neck  by 
which  the  peninsula  of  Boston  is  connected  with  the  main  land. 

These  precautions  were  by  no  means  premature  or  unnecessary, 
for,  every  where  throughout  the  colony,  appearances  grew  more  and 
more  ominous.  The  new  officers,  of  royal  appointment,  were  im- 
peded in  the  exercise  of  their  duties,  by  threats  or  violence ;  the 
orgatiization  and  training  of  the  militia  was  carried  on  with  great 
zeal  and  perseverance;  meetings  were  every  where  held,  and  reso- 
lutions were  passed  breathing  the  spirit  of  the  most  determined 
resistance.  At  a  general  meeting  of  Massachusetts  delegates,  at 
Salem,  of  which  Hancock  was  president,  "They  enrolled  twelve 
thousand  of  the  militia,  whom  they  called  minute-men;  that  is,  sol- 
diers that  must  hold  themselves  in  readiness  to  mat  oh  at  a  minute's 
notice."  Directions  were  openly  and  boldly  given  for  the  storing 
of  provisions,  the  collection  of  ammunition,  kc.^  as  if  the  country 
were  already  involved  in  civil  war. 

The  city  of  Boston  necessarily  suffered  severely  from  the  total 
cutting  off  of  its  commercial  resources.  The  most  hearty  sympathy 
was  expressed  by  the  towns  of  Massachusetts,  and  by  the  other  col- 
onies, both  in  the  form  of  resolutions  of  encouragement,  and,  more 
substantially,  by  subscriptions  for  the  relief  of  the  poor.    At  Salem 


c  u  X  a  u  t:  s  s  ii  a  i.  i.,   r  n  i  /.  .4  v  k  i.  v  iiia 


FAXEV IL    HALL,    BOSTOJf. 

The  Buildicg  was  commenced  in  1740,  and -was  given  by  Peter  Faneuil  to  the 
town  of  Boston,  for  a  Town-HaU  and  Market-place  It  is  celebrated  as  being  tba 
scene  of  many  of  the  early  debates  upon  the  great  Questions  at  issue  between 
England  and  the  Colonies 


":< 


■€■ 


■  •  r,fS---v 


if,s,/.w  /^";;v.'t>:H*'  "•'•^'  ' 


V*W;T->>--i=. 


f'^*  .1^:'->F^i 


U 


itAVt^';^    '    ■* 


,:■- ■V^.'-t,,^-! 


*m1.;«'^£j:c' 


THE  AMERICAN   REVOLUTION. 


247 


and  Marblehead,  the  merchants  proffered  the  use  of  their  warehouses 
to  the  Boston  importers,  and  the  inhabitants  of  the  former  made 
public  profession  of  their  determination  not  to  take  advantage  of 
the  position  in  whinh  they  were  placed,  to  enrich  themselves  at  the 
expense  of  those  who  had  exposed  their  property  and  personal 
safety  for  the  general  good. 

In  the  neighbouring  colonies,  the  same  state  of  affairs  existed  as 
in  Massachusetts.  Not  only  were  the  people  busily  engaged  in  pre- 
paring arms  and  ammunition,  but,  in  several  instances,  they  vio- 
lently plundered  the  public  stores.  The  legislative  assemblies 
generally  responded  to  the  exigency  of  the  occasion,  by  resolutions 
of  sympathy  and  encouragement.  In  Virginia,  it  was  resolved,  that 
attempts  to  coerce  one  colony  to  submit  to  measures  which  all  had 
expressed  a  common  interest  in  opposing,  were  to  be  resisted  by 
the  others,  and  it  was  recommended  that  an  annual  convention 
should  be  held  by  deputies  from  all  the  colonies,  to  take  counsel  for 
the  general  good.  '  *    •    ' 

In  accordance  with  this  proposal,  all  the  colonies  except  Georgia 
made  choice  of  delegates,  in  number  from  two  to  seven,  according 
to  the  population  of  each,  who  were  to  convene  at  Philadelphia. 
At  the  same  time,  resolutions  to  cease  all  commerce  with  Great 
Britain  were  renewed.  Agreements  to  that  effect  were  signed  by 
immense  numbers,  and  those  who  did  not  readily  concur  with 
the  proposal,  were  effectually  overawed  by  a  threat  of  the  publica- 
tion of  their  names,  A  time  was  fixed  for  the  agreement  to  go  into 
operation.  The  state  of  public  feeling  was  also  demonstrated  by 
acts  of  violence  committed  upon  the  persons  of  obnoxious  tories, 
many  of  whom  were  "tarred  and  feathered,"  or  otherwise  so  perse- 
cuted as  to  be  obliged  to  place  themselves  under  the  protection  of 
the  authorities  at  the  fortified  posts. 

The  continental  congress  met  at  Philadelphia,  on  the  5th  of  Sep- 
tember, 1774.  All  were  present  excep;  the  deputies  from  South 
Carolina,  who  arrived  on  the  14th.  Ot  the  fifty-three  delegates  to 
this  convention,  nearly  all  were  men  of  property  and  high  standing 
in  society:  many  of  them — as  Patrick  Henry  of  Virginia,  Samuel  and 
John  Adams  of  Massachusetts,  Roger  Sherman  of  Connecticut,  and 
others — were  already  celebrated  for  eloquence,  legal  attainments,  or 
for  an  active  share  in  the  first  patriotic  movements.  It  was  no 
assembly  of  reckless  political  adventurers,  but  consisted  of  men  who 
truly  repr^ented  the  intelligent  portion  of  the  community,  and  who 


248 


THE  PEOPLE'S   BOOK  OF  HISTOBT. 


felt  that  their  own  good  fame,  their  lives,  property,  and  personal 
safety  depended  upon  the  performance  of  their  duty  to  their  con- 
stituents, in  a  manner  as  prudent  and  cautious,  as  firm  and  uncom- 
promising. It  was  agreed  that  each  colony  should  have  but  one 
vote,  and  the  proceedings  of  the  assembly  were  only  to  be  made 
public  so  far  as  permitted  by  its  own  resolutions.  The  session  was 
held  with  closed  doors. 

The  first  proceedings  were  the  adoption  of  resolutions  expressive 
of  approval  of  those  passed  by  the  Massachusetts  convention;  a 
declaration  of  rights,  accompanied  by  a  specific  enumeration  of  the 
instances  in  which  these  had  been  infringed  by  the  British  govern- 
ment ;  and  a  more  efficient  organization  of  the  system  of  non-im- 
portation, which  was  to  go  into  general  operation  on  the  1st  of  the 
ensuing  December,  and  to  which  was  ap(>ended  an  agreement  not 
to  export  goods  to  England  or  its  dependencies,  if,  at  a  future  period, 
redress  should  not  have  been  obtained  for  injuries  already  commit- 
ted. Incidentally  to  this  agreement,  the  importation  of  slaves  was 
condemned,  and  was  prohibited  by  the  articles  of  compact. 

A  petition  to  the  king,  and  addresses,  letters,  and  memorials  to 
the  people  of  Great  Britain,  and  of  the  northern  American  provinces, 
were  subsequently  prepared,  debated,  and  adopted.  An  unavailing 
communication  had  been  previously  addressed  to  General  Gage, 
remonstrating  against  the  military  operations  at  Boston.  Congress 
adjourned  in  the  latter  part  of  October,  after  providing  for  a  future 
meeting,  to  take  place  in  the  following  year.  , 

During  the  winter,  the  colonies  had  opportunity  to  express  their 
separate  opinion  upon  the  doings  of  Congress,  either  by  their  assem- 
blies or  by  popular  conventions.  The  acts  passed  generally  met 
with  hearty  approval  and  concurrence.  The  sect  of  Quakers,  at 
their  yearly  meeting,  carrying  out  their  principles  of  peace,  con- 
demned every  thing  that  should  tend  to  bring  down  upon  the  coun- 
try the  calamities  of  war;  but,  on  the  other  hand,  the  eloquence  and 
ardour  of  New  England  divines,  especially  of  the  Congregational 
societies,  were  lent,  with  little  scruple  or  concealment,  to  the  popular 
cause.  The  association  for  non-intercourse  with  England  experi- 
enced more  opposition  in  New  York  than  elsewhere:  the  tories  of 
that  colony,  by  reason  of  wealth,  influence,  and  numbers,  occupied 
a  more  independent  position  than  in  either  of  the  other  provinces, 
and  the  self-interest  of  the  large  number  of  those  dependent  upon 
the  commerce  of  New  York,  strengthened  their  opposition. 


THE  AMEKICAN   BE.VOLUTION. 


249 


The  parliament  of  Great  Britain,  upon  receipt  of  intelligence  con- 
cerning  the  American  congress  and  the  disorderly  state  of  affairs  in 
America,  determined  on  violent  coercive  measures.     The  concil- 
iatory and  moderate  policy  of  the  elder  Pitt  was  rejected ;  Franklin 
and  the  other  colonial  agents  were  refused  a  hearing;  and,  as  aj)un- 
isbment  to  the  colonies  for  their  resistance  to  authority  and  refusal 
to  import  goods  from  Great  Britain,  all  other  foreign  ^j^de,  except 
that  to  the  British  West  Indies,  was  absolutely  prohibited,  as  was 
also  the  prosecution  of  the  fisheries  on  the  banks.    A  large  military 
and  naval  reinforcement  was  also  ordered  to  America.    A  provision 
was,  indeed,  made  for  the  exemption  from  taxation  of  any  colony 
which  should,  by  its  own  act,  appropriate  a  "sufficient"  sum  for  the 
necessary  expenses  of  government  and  defence.    In  the  new  restric- 
tions upon  trade,  exceptions  were  introduced  in  favour  of  New 
York  and  North  Carolina,  these  being  considered  the  most  loyal 
and  amenable  of  the  colonies.    The  acts  were  passed  in  both  houses 
by  large  majorities,  notwithstanding  the  able  argument  of  eloquent 
opponents,  and  a  crowd  of  petitions  frpm  merchants,  manufacturers, 
and  inhabitants  of  other  colonies,  whose  interests  were  directly  de- 
pendent upon  prosperous  commerce  with  America. 


WARLIKE  PREPARATIONS  IN  M A88ACHl'8ETTS. — TROOPS  DIS- 
PATCHED TO  SEIZE  MILITARY  STORES. — FIRST  BLOOD  SHED 
'  AT  LEXINGTON.  —  DISASTROUS  RETREAT  OF  TUB  BIIITISH  TO 
B08T0K — PROCEEDINGS  IN  THE  NEIOHBOURiNO  COLONIES. 
— BOSl-^N  BESIEGED  BY  THE  FRCYIKCIALS. CONCUR- 
RENCE Oi  THE  SOUTHERN  COLONIES — SECOND  SESSION 
OF  CONGRESS.  —  APPOINTMENT  OF  OFFICERS. — 
SEIZURE  Oi  CROWN  POINT  AND  IICONDEROOA. 

The  inhabitants  of  Massachusetts,  denounced  as  rebels  by  the  late 
acts  of  parliament,  cut  off  from  all  sourcea  of  former  prosperity,  and 
insulted  by  the  presence  of  overbearing  military  officials  and  sol- 
diery, wore  now  ready  for  any  extremity.  It  was  with  no  small 
ih^niUj  that  supplies  could  be  procured  for  the  troops  at  Boston, 


250 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTOEY. 


and  the  commanding  officer  heard,  with  alarm,  of  the  unceasing  pre- 
parations for  war  that  were  going  on  in  all  the  neighbouring  dis- 
tricts. The  precarious  position  of  the  inhabitants  of  Boston  excited 
universal  concern,  and  various  plans  were  suggested  for  their  relief. 
Aniong  others,  it  is  said  to  have  been  seriously  proposed,  that  "a 
valuation  should  be  made  of  the  houses  and  furniture  belonging  to 
the  inhabitants,  that  the  city  should  then  be  fired,  and  that  all  the 
lotjses  should  be  reimbursed  from  the  public  treasure."  The  pro- 
vincial congress  of  Massachusetts  ordered  the  procurement  of  large 
quantities  of  ammunition  and  arms,  which,  as  fast  as  they  could  be 
collected,  were  privately  stored  at  different  d^pdts  in  the  country 
towns.  Cannon,  balls,  Ac,  were  smuggled  out  of  Boston,  over  the 
fortified  neck,  in  manure-carts,  and  various  other  devices  were  suc- 
cessfully resorted  to  for  deceiving  the  guard. 

General  Gage,  having  now  nearly  three  thousand  men  under  his 
immediate  command,  thought  that  the  time  had  arrived  for  a  forcible 
check  upon  the  movements  of  the  rebels.  He  had  learned  that  arms 
and  ammunition,  belonging  to  the  provincials,  were  collected  in 
large  quantities  at  Concord,  about  eighteen  miles  from  Boston,  These 
he  determined  to  seize,  and,  having  taken  every  precaution  to  pre- 
vent intelligence  of  the  movement  from  being  known,  he  dispatched 
several  companies  of  grenadiers  and  light  infantry,  numbering  about 
eight  hundred  men,  upon  this  service,  on  the  night  of  April  18th 
(1775.)  Doctor  Joseph  Warren,  one  of  the  most  prominent  of  the 
Boston  patriots,  had,  by  some  means,  become  acquainted  with  the 
intended  attack,  and  sent  messengers  forthwith  to  spread  the  news 
through  the  country. 

Early  on  the  following  morning  the  troops,  commanded  by  Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Smith,  entered  Lexington,  a  few  miles  from  Concord. 
A  company  of  provincial  militia,  to  *\rt  number  of  little  more  than 
seventy,  was  under  arms  upon  the  green,  near  the  meeting-house. 
Major  Pitcairn,  leader  of  che  van-guard,  called  out,  "Disperse,  relwls! 
lay  down  your  arms  and  disperse."  The  order  not  being  obeyed, 
he  immediately  discharged  a  pistol,  and,  waving  his  sword,  gave 
the  command  to  fire.  Several  fell  at  the  first  volley,  and,  although 
the  militia  immediately  retreated,  they  were  fired  upon  in  the  act  of 
diBf)er8ing.     Eight  were  killed. 

The  troops  then  marched  on  to  Concord.  At  that  town  the  min- 
ute-men endeavoured  to  keep  possession  of  a  bridge,  but  were 
charged  and  driven  from  their  position.     The  object  of  the  cxpcdi- 


THE  AMEBICAN   REVOLUTION. 


251 


lion  was  accomplished,  by  the  destruction  of  a  quantity  of  ammuni- 
tion and  provisions,  and  the  spiking  and  dismounting  of  two  pieces 
of  artillery.  By  this  time  the  whole  country  was  up  in  arms,  and, 
as  the  troops  commenced  their  retreat,  they  were  exposed  to  a  gall- 
ing and  destructive  fire  from  places  of  concealment  on  either  side  of 
the  road,  while  a  large  and  constantly  increasing  force  of  the  provin- 
cials hung  upon  their  rear.  .  .», 

To  protect  the  retreat,  General  Gage  had,  fortunately  for  the 
expedition,  sent  on  a  reinforcement  of  sixteen  companies,  who  met 
the  first  detachment  at  Lexington.  Wearied  by  their  long  night 
march  and  the  fatigues  of  the  morning,  and  with  their  ammunition 
nearly  spent,  the  whole  of  the  first  detachment,  it  was  thought,  might 
have  perished  or  fallen  into  the  enemies'  hands  but  for  the  aid  thus 
opportunely  afforded.  After  resting  and  recruiting  their  strength, 
the  whole  army  marched  towards  Boston. 

Harassed  throughout  the  entire  distance  by  an  irregular  but 
deadly  fire  from  concealed  marksmen,  the  worn-ovt  troops  reached 
Charlestown  about  sunset.  They  had  sustained  a  loss,  in  killed  and 
wounded,  of  not  for  from  three  hundred  men:  the  provincials  lost 
lesp  than  one-third  of  that  number..  What  added  to  the  difficulty 
of  the  march,  was  the  intense  heat  of  the  weather,  and  a  high  wind, 
which  raised  clouds  of  dust. 

The  first  blood  had  now  been  shed;  the  country  was  actually 
involved  in  war,  and  Massachusetts  culled  upon  the  other  colonies 
for  assistance.  Connecticut,  New  Hampshire,  and  Khode  Island, 
made  response  by  raising  troops  and  commissioning  ofiicors.  In 
anticipation  of  this  more  regular  levy,  a  lar^e  army  of  volunteers 
had  collected  and  encamped  around  Boston.  Generals  Ward  and 
Thomas  received  the  highest  commission  under  the  provision  of  the 
Massac!) usetts  provincial  legislature.  The  volunteers  from  Connec- 
ticut were  commanded  by  General  Putnam,  an  old  soldier,  and  a 
true  man  of  the  times.  There  was  no  difficulty,  at  this  period,  in 
procuring  men:  more,  indeed,  flocked  in  than  could  be  supported, 
and  upon  the  arrival  of  the  regular  provincial  forces,  great  num- 
bers of  the  volunteer  disbanded  and  returned  home.  The  universal 
indigi>ation  was  increased  by  repo;t8  of  British  cruelties  during 
the  brief  period  of  hostilities.  These  stories,  it  is  said,  the  lenders 
of  the  people  "never  failed  to  propagate  and  exaggerate,  in  every 
place,  repeating  them  with  words  of  extreme  vehemence,  and 
pamting  them  in  the  moat  vivid  ^jolours,"  thereby  producing  "an 


-(..,, 


252 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  IIISTOKY. 


incredible  fermentation,  and  a  frantic  rage  in  the  minds  of  the 
inhabitants." 

The  middle  and  southern  colonies,  as  soon  as  the  news  of  the 
opening  of  the  campaign  in  the  north  could  reach  them,  generally 
gave  expression  to  the  popular  feeling  of  sympathy  with  the  patriots, 
and  of  their  conviction  that  -he  questions  in  dispute  were  of  com- 
mon interest.  Military  organizations,  associations  for  purposes  of 
defence,  and  seizures  of  public  stores  and  funds  for  the  popular 
cause,  were  the  order  of  the  day. 

On  the  10th  of  May,  (1775,)  in  accordance  with  former  provisions, 
the  continental  congress  assembled,  the  second  time,  at  Philadelphia. 
Peyton  Randolph,  of  Virginia,  who  had  presided  at  the  first  meeting, 
was  reelected^  but  upon  his  departure  to  atteii^i  the  meeting  of  the 
Virginia  assembly,  his  place  was  taken  by  Thomas  Jefferson.  The 
first  proceedings  were  to  prepare  a  further  petition  to  the  king,  and 
addresses  to  the  inhabitants  of  Great  Britain  and  the  American  col- 
onies. It  was  then  voted,  that  war  had  been  commenced  by  England, 
and  that  active  measures  should  be  taken  foi  defence;  but,  at  the 
same  time,  a  nominal  allegiance  was  professed  to  the  parent-country. 

Continental  officers  were  next  chosen — the  office  of  commander- 
in-chief  being  bestowed  upon  George  Washington,  one  of  the  mem- 
bers from  Virginia;  Artemas  Ward,  Philip  Schuyler,  Israel  Putnam, 
and  Charles  Lee,  were  chosen  major-generals;  Horatio  Gates  re- 
ceived the  appointment  of  adjutant-general.  The  two  officers  last 
mentioned  had  both  held  commissions  in  the  British  service. 

These  proceedings  occupied  some  time,  and,  meanwhile,  important 
scenes  were  enacting  at  the  seat  of  war.  On  the  very  day  that  con- 
gress assembled,  a  bold  and  successful  adventure  was  achieved  by  a 
volunteer  force  of  the  "Green  Mountain  Boys,"  commanded  by  Ethan 
Allen,  one  of  the  most  active  and  enterprising  of  the  popular  leaders 
at  the  north.  At  Crown  Point  and  Ticonderoga,  fortified  posts  upon 
Lake  CJhamplain,  on  the  Canadian  frontier,  it  was  known  that  there 
was  great  store  of  artillery  and  ammunition,  and  a  design  was  formed 
simultaneously  in  Connecticut  and  Vermont  to  accomplish  its  seizure. 
Colonel  Benedict  Arnold,  of  New  Haven,  at  the  time  connected  with 
the  besieging  army  at  Boston,  was  commissioned  by  the  former.  lie 
is  described  as  having  been  "  jxjssessed  by  n'\ture  of  an  extraordinary 
force  of  genius,  a  retitless  character,  and  an  intrepidity  bordering  upon 
prodigy."  Finding  that  Allen  had  already  raised  a  force  for  the  same 
object,  Arnold  joined  the  expedition  as  a  subordinate. 


THE  AMERICAN   REVOLUTION. 


253 


The  garrisonB  at  the  forts  were  grossly  insufficient  in  numbers 
for  their  defence,  and  were,  moreover,  taken  completely  by  surprise. 
When  the  commander  of  Ticonderoga,  roused  from  sleep,  and  sum- 
moned by  Allen  to  surrender,  "in  the  name  of  the  Great  Jehovah 
and  the  Continental  Congress,"  was  informed  that  he  was  "  prisoner 
of  America,  he  was  much  confused,  and  repeated,  several  times, 
'  What  does  this  mean?' "  About  two  hundred  and  twenty  pieces  of 
artillery,  with  a  great  quantity  of  ammunition,  and  a  number  of 
howitzers  and  mortars,  were  secured  at  these  two  posts.  Proceeding 
down  the  Sorel  in  a  schooner,  Arnold  surprised  and  captured  a 
British  corvette  which  lay  at  Fort  St.  John.  The  captured  fortresses 
on  Champlain  were  garrisoned  and  put  under  his  command. 


C  n  A  P  T  E  H    V  i  I  X.    .  •■* 

CONDITION   OP  THE   BRITISH    ARMY   IN   BOSTON. — BATTLE    0? 
BUNKER     HILL.  —  WASHINGTON     AT    THE    CAMP.  —  CON- 
GRESSIONAL PROCEEDINGS. — THE  INDIAN  TRIBES. 
— JOSEPH  BRANT.  —  MILITARY  PREPARATIONS 
IN    THE    SEPARATE    COLONIES. 

Early  in  June,  the  British  forces  in  Boston  had  been  increased 
by  fre-sh  arrivals -of  troops,  under  Generals  Howe,  Burgoyne,  and 
Clinton,  to  more  than  ten  thousand  disciplined  soldiers.  It  w,a8 
with  great  difficulty  that  supplies  of  provisions  could  be  procured 
for  so  large  an  army,  beleaguered  as  was  the  town  by  a  superior, 
although  undisciplined  force  of  the  provincials.  General  Gage, 
therefore,  first  issued  a  proclamation  of  free  pardon  to  all  who  would 
lay  aside  their  attitude  of  rebellion,  and  submit  to  the  royal  author- 
ity, excepting,  however,  the  prime  movers  of  sedition,  John  Han- 
cock and  Samuel  Adams.  He  then  formed  a  plan  to  penetrate  the 
enemies'  lines,  and  open  a  free  communication  with  the  country. 

The  intended  movement  became  known  to  the  American  com- 
manders, and  orders  were  immediately  given  for  the  erection  of 
fortifications  on  Bunker  hill,  an  elevation  commanding  the  neck. 
Colonel  William  Prescott,  with  a  body  of  one  thousand  men,  was 
commissioned  upon  this  service,  on  the  night  of  the  16th  of  June. 


ii-fi  f 


254 


TUK   PEOPLE'S   BOOK   OF   UISTOBY. 


Mistaking  bis  point  of  destination,  this  officer  commenced  operations 
at  Breed's  hill,  a  position  nearer  to  the  town,  and  overlooking 
Cbarlestown,  at  that  time  a  place  of  C( 'nsiderable  size.  Labouring 
with  great  diligence  and  silence,  the  provincials  had  thrown  up, 
before  day -break,  a  low  earthen  redoubt  in  the  form  of  a  square, 
sufficiently  substantial  to  afford  some  protection  for  the  troops. 

As  soon  as  these  operations  were  discovered  from  the  harbour,  a 
tremendous  fire  was  opened  upon  the  works  from  the  men-of-war 
which  lay  at  anchor,  from  the  city  artillery,  and  from  floating  bat- 
teries. Notwithstanding  the  storm  of  shells  and  bulls,  the  provincials 
continued  their  labour,  and  carried  a  trench  and  embankment  from 
the  redoubt  down  the  north-eastern  slope  of  the  hill,  nearly  to  the 
water's  edge.  A  reinforcement  of  several  companies  had,  meanwhile, 
been  thrown  into  the  intrench  nent.  As  the  height  commanded 
the  city,  it  was  absolutely  necessary  to  prevent  the  establishment  of  a 
battery  there,  in  order  to  maintain  possession  of  Boston;  Gage,  there- 
fore, determined  upon  an  immediate  attempt  to  storm  the  redoubt. 

Three  thousand  men  were  transported  from  the  city  to  thefotjtof 
the  hill,  in  boats.  Major-General  Howe  and  General  Pigot  were  in 
command.  The  most  exposed  point  was  the  interval  between  the 
trotxli  and  Mystic  river,  at  the  north-east:  this  wa.s  partially  defended 
by  a  temporary  breast- work  of  hay  and  fencing  stuff".  "The  troops 
of  Massachusetts  occupied  Charlestown,  the  redoubt,  and  part  of  the 
trench ;  those  of  Connecticut,  comnfftndcd  by  Captain  Nolton,  and 
those  of  New  Hampshire,  under  Colonel  Starke,  tlie  rest  of  the 
trench."  Generals  Putnam  and  Warren  were  both  present,  and 
assisting  in  the  directions  of  the  defence.  The  troops  were  very 
scantily  furni.shed  with  ammunition,  and  verj-  few  had  bayonets. 

Towards  the  middle  of  the  afternoon,  the  arrangements  for  attack 
being  perffcted,  the  regulars  marched  up  the  hill;  their  officers  were 
surprised  at  the  silence  from  witliin  the  redoubt,  for  the  provincials 
reserved  their  fire  until  a  very  near  approach  of  the  enemy.  When 
the  word  was  at  ^ast  given,  so  heavy  and  destructive  was  the  dis- 
charge, that  the  B.i  ,hl;  fell  back  in  disorder,  and  retreated  to  the  f.wt 
of  tlic  hill.  A  secc  \d  charge,  to  which  the  troops  wcr-e,  v/ith  ditfi- 
culty,  marshalled,  re(?uUed  in  a  similar  disaster.  The  nunilier  of 
officers  who  fell  in  these  two  first  attempts  is  astonishing.  "General 
Howe  remained  fo""  some  time  alooe  upon  the  field  of  battle;  ail  the 
officers  who  surrounded  him  were  killed  or  wounded." 

The  town  of  Charlestown  had  been  fired  by  order  of  Gage,  at  the 


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THE  AMERICAN    RKVOLUTION, 


255 


time  of  the  first  repulse,  and,  consisting  chiefly  of  wooden  i nildings, 
was  soon  reduced  to  aahes.  The  scene  had  now  become  v:>ne  of 
intense  interest.  Every  hill  and  house-top  froi  which  a  view  of  the 
field  could  be  obtained,  was  thronged  with  spectators.  General 
Clinton,  who  had  witnessed  the  second  charge  from  Cop's  hill,  a 
neighbouring  height,  hastened  up,  with  additujua^  orces.  The  col- 
umns were  again  formed,  and  marched  up  .  the  redoubt,  suffering 
little  from  the  slackened  fire  of  *he  provincuui,  whose  powder  was 


lateral    -enoh  v  as  swept 
<  hud  succeeded  in 


m 


rei       to  the  enclosed 

were  driven  at  the 

,  with  their  muskets 


now  nearly  spent.    At  the  same  ti    e, 
by  several  pieces  of  artillery,  wlujh 
posting  at  ita  extremity. 

From  three  several  quarters,  the  r* 
space  of  the  redoubt,  from  which  the 
point  of  the  bayonet,  defending  themselvt 
clubbed.  Their  retreat  was  effected,  with  little  further  loss,  across 
Cbarlestown  neck,  although  the  passage  was  exposed  to  a  heavy  fire 
from  the  floating  batteries,  and  from  one  of  the  armed  vessels.  The 
English  immediately  fortified  Bunker  hill,  to  secure  command  of 
the  neck  for  the  future. 

In  this  battle  more  than  one-third  of  the  entire  British  force  were 
either  killed  or  wounded.  The  loss  of  the  provincials  a  little  ex- 
ceeded four  hundred  and  fifty.  Doctor  Joseph  Warren,  recently 
commissioned  as  a  general  ofiicer,  perished  during  the  retreat.  He 
was  shot  down,  it  is  said,  by  an  English  officer,  who  borrowed  a 
musket  from  a  private  for  the  purpose. 

The  provincial  congress  of  Massachusetts  had,  ere  this,  declared 
the  colony  absolved  from  all  allegiance  to  Gage,  who,  in  the  resolution, 
was  pronounced  "a  public  enemy."  After  communication  with  the 
continental  congress,  a  provisional  government  was  organized,  con- 
sisting of  town  deputies  and  a  council.  It  wa.s,  indeed,  plain  to  all 
that  there  was  no  choice  between  a  sanguinary  contest  and  a  humil- 
iating submission.  In  England,  the  popular  feeling,  where  not 
affected  by  the  personal  interest  of  commerce,  was  most  decidedly 
inimical  to  the  rebellious  colonies,  who  had  presumed  to  defy  the 
power  and  question  the  authority  of  the  British  government,  and 
the  coercive  measures  adopted  met  with  gcnenil  approbation.  It  is 
true  that  there  were  not  a  few  who  foresaw  the  possible  consequences 
of  the  war,  and  deprecated  the  violence  that  might  cause  the  loss  of 
England's  most  valuable  foreign  possession ;  others,  of  yet  more  lib- 
eral sentiments,  felt  and  expressed  a  noble  sympathy  with  thoir 
Vol.  IV.— 45 


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256 


THE   PEOPLE'S   BOOK  OF  HISTOBY. 


transatlantic  brethren  throughout  the  long  and  arduous  struggle 
upon  which  they  had  now  entered. 

About  the  1st  of  July,  General  Washington  arrived  at  the  camp, 
near  Boston,  and  assumed  command.  The  presence  of  an  experi- 
enced commander-in-chief  was  absolutely  requisite  in  the  existing 
state  of  the  army.  About  fourteen  thousand  men,  new  to  the  disci- 
pline of  a  camp,  and  very  insufficiently  provided  with  necessary 
accommodations,  stores,  and  ammunition,  were  posted  so  as  to  guard 
the  approaches  to  the  city:  this  line  extended  over  a  space  of  not  far 
from  twelve  miles.  Washington's  head-quarters  were  at  Cambridge. 
Generals  Ward  and  Lee  were  stationed  at  Roxbury  and  Prospect 
hill.  The  latter  position  had  been  fortified  by  the  provincials  im- 
mediately subsequent  to  the  battle  at  Breed's  hill. 

The  more  important  congressional  proceedings  during  the  months 
of  June  and  July,  in  addition  to  those  already  briefly  mentioned,  were 
the  issue  of  bills  of  credit,  redeemable  by  apportionment  among  the 
colonies,  to  the  amount  of  three  millions  of  dollars;  the  establish- 
ment of  a  post-office  system  (at  the  head  of  which  was  Benjamin 
Franklin) ;  and  the  commission  of  emissaries  to  treat  with  the  Indian 
tribes.  These,  and  various  minor  arrangements,  being  concluded, 
congress  adjoumed  until  September.  The  attempt  to  gain  over  the  . 
powerful  confederacy  of  the  Six  Nations,  proved  a  signal  failure, 
except  so  far  as  related  to  the  tribe  of  the  Oneidas,  over  whom  Mr. 
Kirkland,  a  missionary,  had  great  influence.  The  munificence  and 
crafty  policy  of  the  English  Indian  agent,  Sir  William  Johnson,  had 
for  many  years  secured  the  admiration  and  aflFection  of  the  rest  of 
the  Iroquois;  and,  upon  his  death,  they  proved  equally  loyal  to  hi* 
son-in-law  and  successor,  Guy  Johnson.  Their  most  celebrated  chief, 
Joseph  Brant,  Thayendanegea,  who  had  been  brought  up  .and  edu- 
cated under  Sir  William's  patronage,  received  a  commission  in  the 
British  service,  and  took,  as  we  shall  have  occasion  to  notice,  an 
important  part  in  border  hostilities.  The  character  of  Brant  has 
been  generally  mistaken  by  historians,  and  it  is  only  by  the  research 
of  m  Aern  writers  that  his  abilities  and  good  qualities  have  been 
brought  to  light,  and  the  popular  slanders,  which  pronounced  him  a 
monster  of  cruelty,  refuted. 

The  spirit  which  actuated  the  general  congress  was  also  evinced 
in  the  separate  colonies,  either  by  popular  movements,  or  the  action 
of  the  provincial  assemblies.  The  authority  of  the  royal  governors 
was,  in  many  instances,  set  at  naught:    troops  were  raised,  and 


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THE   AMERICAN   REVOLUTION. 


257 


colonial  bills  were  issued  to  defray  the  expense  of  their  maintenance. 
As  heretofore,  the  greatest  conflict  of  public  opinion  was  in  New 
York,  where  the  loyalists  were  enabled  to  make  a  stronger  stand 
than  elsewhere.  The  members  for  New  York,  at  the  late  session  of 
congress,  were  chosen,  not  by  the  assembly,  but  by  a  self-organized 
provincial  congress  elected  by  the  people  at  large. 


itJt  a,  i,     L    ih  li     1  At,  I 

TACILLATINO  POLICY  OP  ENGLAND. — PROVISIONS  BY  C0NOEB88 
POR  CARRYING  ON  THE  WAR.— NATAL  OPERATIONS. — EXPE- 
DITION AGAINST  CANADA. — SIEGE  OP  FORT  ST.  JOHN. — 
ALLEN'S  ATTEMPT  UPON  MONTREAL. — THE  CITY  OCCU- 
PIED BY  MONTGOMERY. — MARCH  TOWARDS  QUEBEC. 

There  is  much  wisdom  in  the  criticism  of  Botta,  upon  the  gen- 
eral policy  of  the  British  government  during  these  early  hostilities. 
In  speaking  of  Gage,  he  says:  "He  arrived  in  America  accompanied 
with  general  affection :  he  lefl  it  abhorred ;  perhaps  less  through  his 
own  fault  than  that  of  the  ministers,  who,  in  place  of  rigorous 
decrees,  should  have  sent  powerful  armies;  or  instead  of  armies, 
conciliatory  conditions,  consonant  with  the  opinions  of  Americans. 
But  men  commonly  know  neither  how  to  exert  all  their  force,  nor 
to  surmount  the  shame  of  descending  to  an  accommodation:  hence 
delays,  hesitations,  and  half  measures,  so  often  prove  the  ruin  of 
enterprises." — {Otis*  Translation.) 

The  whole  proceedings  of  the  British  military  and  naval  forces  at 
this  time  were  calculated  rather  to  annoy  and  enrage,  than  to  over- 
awe. There  were  many  cruisers  busied  upon  the  coast  in  hinder- 
ing the  American  commerce,  and  in  procuring  supplies  for  the 
beleaguered  garrison  at  Boston.  The  sea-port  towns  suffered  from 
their  depredations ;  and,  in  one  especial  instance,  the  action  of  the 
provincials  in  preventing  the  procurance  of  provisions,  &c.,  by  a 
British  vessel,  was  punished  by  bombardment.  This  waa  at  Fal- 
mouth, afterwards  Portland,  which  was  destroyed  in  the  month  of 
October  (1775).  ■ 

Congress  waa  at  this  time  in  session,  having  come  together  early 


258 


Tll£  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  UlSTOBY. 


in  the  preceding  month.  Delegates  from  all  the  original  thirteen 
colonies  were  present ;  Georgia  had  elected  deputies  since  the  last 
meeting.  The  principal  attention  of  this  body  was  necessarily 
directed  to  the  maintenance  of  the  army,  the  difficulty  of  procuring 
ammunition  and  military  stores  being  very  great.  Privileges  of 
trade  were  granted  to  vessels  in  which  gun-powder  should  be  im- 
ported, and  ships  were  dispatched  to  distant  foreign  ports,  even  to 
the  coast  of  Guinea,  for  the  purchase  of  this  grand  desideratum  of 
modern  warfare. 

The  three  New  England  colonies,  at  an  early  period  in  the  war, 
commenced  retaliations  upon  British  commerce,  for  the  injuries  com- 
mitted at  sea.  The  first  step  taken  by  the  Massachusetts  assembly, 
was  to  direct  the  arming  of  several  vessels  to  protect  the  sea-coast 
From  this  they  proceeded  to  authorize  private  adventure,  by  the 
issue  of  letters-of-marque,  and  the  allowance  of  reprisals.  Courts  of 
admiralty  were  also  instituted  to  decide  prize  claims.  The  priva- 
teers thus  commissioned  were,  however,  restricted  to  the  seizure  of 
vessels  containing  supplies  for  "the  soldiers  who  made  war  against 
the  Americans." 

The  general  congress  adopted,  soon  afler,  substantially  the  same 
course.  A  fleet  of  thirteen  vessels  was  ordered  to  be  fitted  out  in 
the  northern  and  middle  colonies.  Continental  courts  of  admiralty 
were  also  created,  and  the  public  vessels  received  a  general  com- 
mission to  "capture  all  those  which  should  attempt  to  lend  assist- 
ance to  the  enemy,  in  any  mode  whatever."  It  is  singular  to 
observe  the  manner  in  which  congress,  previous  to  the  declaration 
of  independence,  while  adopting  every  measure  of  open  hostility, 
8till  aimed  at  a  nominal  distinction  between  rebellion  against  the 
British  government  and  the  resistance  of  illegal  demands — still  pro- 
fessing loyalty  to  the  king,  but  denouncing  bis  civil  and  military 
officials  in  the  colonies  as  public  enemies. 

In  the  autumn  of  1775,  a  plan  was  consummated  for  the  invasion 
of  Canada.  It  was  supposed  that  the  French  inhabitants  of  ihnt 
province  would  rejoice  at  un  opportunity  for  successful  resistance  tv 
an  autliority  always  galling  to  their  national  pride,  and  recently 
rendered  more  odious  by  the  arbitrary  provisions  of  the  "Quebec 
act."  The  regular  force  at  this  time  stationed  in  Canada  was  very 
small,  and  the  opportunity  seemed  f)eculiarly  favourable  for  a  bold 
and  unexpected  ofTensive  demonstration.  Information  had  also 
been  received  by  congress,  that,  with  the  opening  of  spring,  the 


THE  AMEEICAN   REVOLUTION. 


259 


British  government  "was  to  make  a  grand  effort  in  this  province; 
that  numerous  forces,  arms,  and  munitions,  would  be  poured  into  it, 
in  order  to  attack  the  colonies  in  the  back:  an  operation  which,  if 
not  seasonably  prevented,  might  have  fatal  consequences." 

A  detachment  of  three  thousand  men,  from  New  York  and  New 
England,  under  command  of  General  Schuyler,  was  ordered  to  pen 
etrate  Canada  by  the  route  of  Lake  Champlain,  passing  down  the 
Sorel  to  the  St.  Lawrence.  Brigadier-Generals  Montgomery  and 
Wooster  held  subordinate  commands;  but,  upon  the  detention  of 
Schuyler  at  Albany,  by  sickness,  the  direction  of  the  expedition 
devolved  upon  the  former. 

General  Carletoo,  governor  of  Canada,  receiving  intimation  of  the 
approach  of  the  enemy,  endeavoured  to  secure  the  entrance  of  the 
Sorel,  by  dispatching  thither  several  armed  vessels;  but  the  Ameri- 
cans were  in  advance  of  the  movement.  Montgomery  entered  the 
river,  and,  landing  his  forces,  laid  siege  to  Fort  St.  John,  which 
commanded  the  passage,  and  was  garrisoned  by  a  considerable  force. 
Advance  parties  were  sent,  by  land,  into  the  neighbouring  Canadian 
districts,  to  circulate  a  proclamation  of  the  Americans,  setting  forth 
the  object  of  the  invasion,  and  calling  upon  the  inhabitants  to  join 
in  driving  the  British  garrisons  from  the  country. 

Many,  accordingly,  enlisted,  and  the  scouting  parties  were  gener- 
ally received  with  kindness  and  hospitality.  Arms  and  provisions 
were  also  furnished  by  the  Canadians.  Colonel  Ethan  Allen  and 
Major  Brown,  in  command  of  one  of  these  advanced  detachments, 
undertook  the  bold  enterprise  of  an  assault  upon  Montreal.  Brown 
was  unable  to  pass  the  river  in  time  to  cooperate  with  Allen,  and  the 
latter,  at  the  head  of  a  very  small  party,  was  overpowered  by  a 
superior  force,  under  command  of  Governor  Carleton.  He  was  sent 
to  England  in  irons. 

Carleton  next  endeavoured  to  relieve  Fort  St.  John,  but,  on  his 
way  thither,  he  met  with  so  warm  a  reception  from  troops  posted 
upon  the  river-bank,  that  a  retreat  was  ordered.  The  fort  surren- 
dered on  the  3d  of  November.  A  number  of  pieces  of  artillery  fell 
into  the  hands  of  the  Americans,  and  a  considerable  supply  of 
shells  and  balls,  but  the  provisions  and  powder  of  the  garrison  were 
nearly  spent. 

Upon  the  approach  of  the  invading  forces,  Carleton  fled  from  Mon- 
treal, which  was  untenable  against  a  superior  force,  and  Montgomery 
entered  the  city,  without  opposition,  on  the  ISth.    He  took  great 


-  }^ 


b  :**.'»' 


2i]a 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HI8T0BT. 


pains  to  conciliate  the  inhabitants,  and  succeeded  in  raising  a  body 
of  volunteers  to  supply,  in  some  measure,  the  diminution  of  his 
forces,  by  the  return  home  of  those  whose  term  of  service  had  ex- 
pired. A  necessary  supply  of  warm  clothing  was  also  procured  to 
protect  the  troops  from  the  severity  of  the  approaching  winter.  The 
establishment  of  garrisons  at  the  captured  posts,  together  with  the 
defection  alluded  to,  had  reduced  the  eflfective  force  of  the  invaders 
to  about  three  hundred  men;  but,  with  this  handful  of  troops,  Mont- 
gomery commenced  his  march  towards  Quebec,  exposed  to  the  rigours 
of  a  Canadian  winter. 


CTT    A   p  T  T?  T)     V 
XX  i£o>  XT    X    Jj  Xi      tAi . 


AENOLD'S    EXPEDITION    AGAINST    QUEBEC:    PASSAGE    OF  T.1S 
WILDEENESS;   FAILUEE  OP  PROVISIONS:   DEFECTION  OF  ENOS, 
WITH   HIS  COMMAND:    AERIVAL   AT  THE  CANADIAN   SET- 
TLEMENTS:  PEOCLAMATIONS:    ABNOLD  AT  THE  HEIGHTS 
OF   ABRAHAM:   UNION   WITH   MONTQOMERT;    ATTACK 
ON  QUEBEC:    DEATH  OF   MONTGOMERT:    MORGAN'S 
EIFLE   CORPS.    AMSEICAN    FOfiCES   DRAWN   OFF. 


In  accordance  with  the  plan  of  the  campaign,  while  Montgomery 
seized  upon  Montreal,  Quebec  was  to  be  attacked  from  a  most  unex- 
pected quarter.  Fourteen  companies,  amounting  to  about  eleven 
hundred  men,  were  put  under  command  of  Colonel  Arnold,  in  the 
month  of  September,  with  instructions  to  force  a  passage  through 
the  wilderness,  by  proceeding  up  the  Kennebec  river,  in  Maine, 
thence  across  the  mountains  to  the  head  waters  of  the  Chaudiere,  and 
down  that  stream  to  its  entry  into  the  St.  Lawrence,  near  Quebec. 

To  estimate  the  difficulties  of  such  an  undertaking,  it  must  be 
considered  that  the  whole  route  lay  through  an  uninhabited  country; 
that  every  natural  obstacle  of  a  rough,  uncultivated  region,  must  be 
overcome ;  that  no  provisions  could  be  procured  on  the  way ;  and 
that  all  supplies,  arms,  and  camp  furniture,  must  be  transported  by 
hand  around  the  portages,  or  unnavigable  places  on  the  rivers,  and 
over  the  highlands  to  be  passed  before  reaching  the  Chaudiere. 

As  the  detachment  approached  the  sources  of  the  Kennebec,  the 


THE  AMERICAN   REVOLUTION. 


261 


supply  of  provisions  was  nearly  exhausted.  The  soldiers,  woin  out 
by  exposure,  hardship,  and  toil,  and  compelled  to  resort  to  crude 
and  unnatural  aliment,  suffered  much  from  sickness.  Colonel  Enos, 
being  in  command  of  one  division  of  the  army,  was  ordered  to  select 
the  sick  and  unserviceable,  who  were  to  be  sent  back  to  Boston. 
This  officer  accordingly  withdrew  his  entire  command — a  species  of 
desertion,  which  was  afterwards  excused  upon  a  trial  by  court-mar- 
tial, on  the  ground  that  provision  for  the  sustenance  of  the  whole 
body  could  not  by  possibility  have  been  procured. 

Before  reaching  the  Chaudiere,  the  scant  remains  ox  food  were 
divided  among  the  soldiers,  and,  at  a  distance  of  thirty  miles  from 
any  settlement,  the  whole  store  was  exhausted.  A  small  scouting 
party,  led  by  Arnold  in  person,  succeeded  in  procuring  a  sufficient 
quantity  of  provision  to  recruit  the  strength  of  their  companions, 
and  enable  them  to  continue  their  march.  Upon  reaching  the  Can- 
adian settlements,  after  more  than  a  month  spent  in  the  wilderness, 
Arnold  issued  proclamations,  drawn  up  by  the  commander-in-chief 
of  the  American  army,  disclaiming  all  hostile  intent  towards  the 
people  of  Canada,  and  exhorting  them  to  join  as  brothers  in  a  cause 
of  common  interest. 

The  Americans  were  hospitably  received  and  entertained;  and, 
pursuing  their  march,  they  arrived,  on  the  9th  of  November,  at 
Point  Levy,  nearly  opposite  the  Canadian  capital,  on  the  right  bank 
of  the  St.  Lawrence.  Unfortunately  for  the  success  of  the  expedi- 
tion, no  boats  could  be  procured  for  the  transportation  of  the  army 
across  the  river. 

"It  is  easy  to  imagine  the  stupor  of  surprise  which  seized  the 
inhabitants  of  Quebe  ) '.  the  apparition  of  these  troops.  They  could 
not  comprehend  by  wl  at  way,  or  in  what  mode,  they  had  'trans- 
ported themselves  into  this  region.  This  enterprise  appeared  to 
them  not  merely  marvellous,  but  miraculous;  and  if  Arnold,  in  this 
first  moment,  had  been  able  to  cross  the  river,  and  fall  upon  Quebec, 
he  would  have  taken  it  without  difficulty."* 

Opportunity  was  given,  by  the  delay  thus  occasioned,  for  strength- 
ening the  defences,  and  for  organizing  the  citizen-soldiery.  On  the 
night  of  the  13th  of  November,  Arnold  crossed  the  river,  and  ascended 
the  heights  at  the  spot  memorable  as  the  scene  of  the  decisive  en- 
gagement between  the  French  and  English  in  the  late  war.  The 
American  general  had  hoped  to  come  upon  the  city  by  surprise,  but 

•  Otia'  Botta. 


iiii 


nw- 


202 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


he  ascertained,  upon  a  nearer  approach,  that  the  garrison  was  under 
arms  and  on  the  alert  His  own  ardent  feelings  impelled  him  to  an 
immediate  assault,  but  he  abandoned  the  rash  design  upon  consid* 
eration  of  the  unserviceable  condition  of  the  arms  of  his  troops,  and 
their  very  scanty  stock  of  ammunition.  He  drew  off  his  forces,  and 
retired  to  Point  au  Tremble,  twenty  miles  from  the  city,  there  to 
await  the  arrival  of  Montgomery. 

The  two  detachments  met  on  the  Ist  of  December.  United,  they 
formed  a  body  of  less  than  one  thousand  men,  but  with  these  the 
commanding  officer  determined  to  attack  the  capital.  Carleton  bad, 
in  the  mean  time,  made  his  way  to  the  anticipated  scene  of  conflict, 
and  so  disposed  his  available  force  of  regulars  and  of  the  provincial 
militia,  as  to  constitute  an  adequate  garrison.  Arriving  at  Quebec, 
on  the  5th,  Montgomery  summoned  the  city  to  surrender,  but  the 
demand  was  treated  with  contempt,  and  the  bearer  of  the  flag  was 
fired  upon.  For  several  days,  the  genera?  then  attempted  to  produce 
an  impression  by  playing  upon  the  city  with  a  few  pieces  of  artillery, 
planted  behind  an  embankment  of  ice. 

The  weather  now  became  intensely  cold,  and  frequent  and  heavy 
falls  of  snow  added  to  the  discomfort  and  suffering  of  the  invaders. 
The  small-pox,  moreover,  broke  out  among  them,  and  spread,  in 
spite  of  all  practicable  precautions.  Every  day  the  chances  of  suc- 
cess were  diminishing,  and  it  was  decided  to  assault  the  city  without 
further  delay.  The  little  army,  in  two  divisions,  led  by  Montgom- 
ery and  Arnold,  made  the  attack  before  day-light,  on  the  Slst  of 
Decem'ber.  The  garrison  had  obtained  intimation  of  the  design,  and 
preparations  were  completed  for  the  reception  of  the  enemy.  Mont- 
gomery was  killed,  at  the  first  discharge  of  artillery,  and  his  division 
fell  back.  Arnold  entered  the  city  from  the  opposite  quarter,  march- 
ing at  the  head  of  his  troops.  Upon  approaching  a  barricade,  de- 
fended by  two  pieces  of  artillery,  he  received  a  severe  wound  in  the 
leg  from  a  musket-ball,  which  entirely  disabled  him.  The  barricade 
was  forced  by  the  exertions  of  the  mtrepid  and  active  Morgan,  com- 
mander of  the  rifle  corps;  but  further  defences  appeared,  well 
guarded.  A  heavy  fire,  opened  upon  their  front  and  rear,  compelled 
the  little  band  of  assailants  to  disperse,  and  seek  shelter  in  the  build- 
ings. Some  three  hundred  of  them  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy. 
The  remainder  of  the  army  of  invasion  was  drawn  off,  and  encamped 
a  few  miles  from  the  city. 


THE  AMEBIOAN  BEVOLUTION.  268 

WARLIKB  PREPARATIONS  IN   ENGLAND. — OERHAN  USRCINA- 
RIE8. — PROCEEDINGS  OF  CONGRESS:   ENLISTMENTS:   ISSUE  OF 
BILLS:  DEFENCES  IN  NEW  YORK. — CONDITION  OF  THE  BRIT- 
ISH IN  BOSTON. — OCCUPATION  OF  DORCHESTER  HEIGHTS. 
—  EVACUATION    OF    THE    CITY. — HOPKINS'    CRUISE 
AMONG  THE  BAHAMAS. — AFFAIRS  AT  THE  SOUTH. 
—  ATTACK    UPON    CHARLESTON. —  RETREAT  OF 
TUB    AMBBIOAN    TROOPS    FROM    CANADA. 

The  state  of  feeling  in  England  at  the  aspect  of  American  affairs, 
in  the  autumn  of  1775,  was  one  of  mingled  mortification,  at  the  bold 
position  taken  and  maintained  by  the  colonies,  and  discontent  with  a 
ministry  which  had  "done  too  much  to  irritate,  too  little  to  subdue." 
Believing  that  the  time  for  the  adoption  of  conciliatory  policy  had 
passed,  the  government  treated  the  late  petition  of  congress  with 
contempt,  and  hastened  forward  measures  for  increasing  the  regular 
force  in  America.  Enlistments  were  encouraged  throughout  the 
United  Kingdom,  and,  by  arrangement  with  the  German  princes, 
seventeen  thousand  mercenaries  were  engaged  to  serve  in  America. 
The  whole  force  expected  to  be  raised,  including  those  enlisted  in 
Canada,  was,  numerically,  over  fifty  thousand. 

The  colonies  were  proclaimed  as  being  in  a  state  of  rebellion; 
intercourse  with  them  was  forbidden,  and  the  effects  of  the  inhabit- 
ants were  declared  liable  to  seizure.  In  the  case  of  vessels  captured 
under  this  act,  an  infamous  provision  was  added,  by  which  the  Amer- 
ican crews  were  made  liable  to  impressment  and  compulsory  service 
on  board  British  armed  vessels.  Notwithstanding  a  vehement  and 
eloquent  opposition,  these  measures  were  sanctioned  by  a  large  ma- 
jority in  parliament  The  chief  command  of  the  army  in  America 
was  conferred  upon  General  Howe,  in  place  of  Gage,  who  had  been 
recalled.  The  brother  of  the  former.  Admiral  Lord  Howe,  com- 
manded the  fleet  destined  to  cooperate  with  the  land  forces  against 
the  rebellious  colonies. 

The  continental  congress,  meanwhile,  had  not  been  idle.  The 
most  important  proceedings  related  to  the  details  of  enlisting  regular 
forces,  by  apportionment  among  the  provinces.  Great  numbers  of 
the  troops  stationed  before  Boston,  unaccustomed  to  the  hardships 


!■: 


■    26-1 


THE  PEOPLE'S   BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


and  tedium  of  militnry  life,  hnd  become  completely  diaheftrtened; 
and,  upon  expiration  of  the  short  term  of  their  cnliHtnient,  refused  to 
continue  longer  with  the  army  upon  any  promi«e8,  or  any  repro 
sentations  of  necessity.  To  meet  the  increasing  expenses  of  tho 
V  .ir,  an  additional  issue  of  three  millions  in  bills  of  credit  was  re* 
solved  upon,  redeemable,  like  the  former,  by  instalments,  payments 
to  commence  at  the  expiration  of  eight  years. 

Precautions  were  also  taken,  at  the  opening  of  tho  year  1776,  for 
the  defence  of  the  city  of  New  York,  where  tho  number  and  influ- 
ence of  the  tories  rendered  dependence  upon  tho  local  militin  un- 
safe. Troops  from  New  Jersey  and  Connecticut  were  introduced 
into  the  city,  and  the  command  was  bestowed  upon  General  Lee. 
Many  acts  of  violence  were  committed  at  this  time  upon  the  persons 
and  property  of  adherents  to  the  royal  cause. 

At  Boston,  the  British  garrison  suffered  much  hardship  through- 
out the  winter,  from  deficiency  of  fuel  and  provision.  Many  English 
vessels,  freighted  with  stores,  were  taken  by  tho  colonial  privateors, 
and  others  wore  lost  on  the  coast.  The  army,  encompassed  by  a 
superior  force,  was  entirely  unable  to  carry  on  any  offensive  opera- 
tions against  the  enemy.  As  spring  approached,  it  appeared  neces- 
sary, to  congress  and  to  the  officers  of  tho  continental  army,  that  a 
decisive  blow  should  bo  struck  in  this  quarter,  that  the  besiegiu" 
forces  might  bo  free  to  act  wherever  occasion  should  require. 

The  heights  of  Dorchester  commanded  the  city  and  harbour  from 
the  southward,  and  the  attention  of  tho  commander-in-chief  was 
directed  to  the  occupation  of  that  important  position.  On  the  night 
of  March  4th,  1776,  a  force  of  about  two  thousand,  men  well  pro- 
vided with  carta  of  fascines,  &c.,  and  all  necessary  working  imple- 
menta,  was  dispatched  upon  this  service.  A  cannonade  was  kept 
up  from  batteries  sufficiently  near  to  throw  shells  into  the  city;  ami, 
favoured  by  the  darkness  of  tho  night  and  tho  direction  of  the  wind, 
the  troops  accomplished  the  important  movement  without  discovery 
or  suspicion.  By  day-light,  when  tho  British  garrison  first  had  inti- 
mation of  the  proceeding,  substantial  works  had  been  already  erected, 
and  the  business  of  intrenchment  and  fortification  was  going  on  with 
uninterrupted  ardour. 

A  storm  opportunely  prevented  the  British  general  from  crossing 
with  his  forces  to  attack  tho  redoubt,  and  the  delay  thus  incurred 
gave  sufficient  time  for  completing  the  intrenchments,  and  making 
oil  needful  preparations  for  defence,  and  for  a  bombardment  of  the 


THE   AMKHIOAN   REVOLUTION. 


200 


city.  ITowe  saw  that  his  position  was  untenable,  and  avowed  his 
detonni nation  to  evacuate  the  city  quietly,  if  undisturbed  in  his 
retreat.  Some  of  the  principal  inhabitants  of  Boston  waited  upon 
General  Washington,  with  representations  of  the  condition  of  the 
city,  and  requests  that  lie  would  comply  with  this  proposal.  His 
assent  was  obtained,  and  the  whole  British  army,  crowded  on  board 
of  ships  and  transports  which  lay  in  the  harbour,  was  allowed  to  set 
sail  unmolested.  The  place  of  their  destination  was  unknown  to  the 
Americans,  and  it  was  feared  that  a  descent  would  be  made  upon 
some  other  portion  of  the  coast.  Fifteen  hundred  of  the  inhabitants 
of  the  city,  who,  having  openly  taken  part  with  the  loyalists,  feared 
to  remain  after  tlie  evacuation,  embarked  with  the  British  troops, 
leaving  their  property  subject  to  seizure  and  confiscation. 

The  fleet  sailed  for  Halifax,  the  condition  of  the  troops  being 
entirely  incompatible  with  any  immediate  hostile  demonstration. 
Washington  entered  the  city  with  his  army,  on  the  27tli  of  March, 
and  was  received  with  great  enthusiasm  and  rejoicing.  The  em- 
barkation of  the  British  troops  had  occupied  nearly  a  fortnight, 
during  which  period,  the  inhabitants  had  suffered  considerable  injury 
from  the  depredations  of  the  more  lawless  and  disorderly,  who  wan- 
tonly destroyed  great  quantities  of  provisions,  &c.  The  British 
artillery  and  munitions  of  war  were  abandoned  to  the  Americans, 
whether  by  private  agreement,  as  a  condition  upon  which  a  peace- 
able evacuation  was  permitted,  or  because  of  insufficient  means  of 
transportation,  does  not  distinctly  appear.  Two  hundred  and  fifly 
pieces  of  artillery — mostly  spiked — were  secured  at  Boston  and  the 
neighbouring  fortifications. 

Ere  this  period,  congress  had  commenced  operations  at  sea.  Two 
frigates,  three  corvettes,  anil  a  number  of  gun-sloops  were  fitted  out 
and  manned.  With  eight  of  these  vessels,  Commodore  Hopkins 
sailed  upon  a  cruise  among  the  Bahamas,  in  the  month  of  February. 
The  special  object  was  the  seizure  of  munitions  of  war  known  to  be 
stored  there.  At  New  Providence  a  seasonable  supply  of  gun-pow- 
der, to  the  amount  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  kegs,  was  secured. 

The  southern  colonies,  meanwhile,  were  not  exempt  from  the 
calamities  of  war.  The  coasts  of  Virginia  were  harassed  by  a  force 
under  Lord  Dunmore,  the  former  governor,  who,  at  the  commence- 
ment of  the  year,  made  an  attack  upon  the  thriving  town  of  Norfolk. 
A  portion  of  the  place  was  burned  by  the  attacking  party,  and  the 
remainder  was  fired  by  its  defenders  when  no  longer  tenable.    In 


li 


I- 


i'i 


266 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


North  Carolina  severe  contests  took  place,  in  the  month  of  February, 
between  the  provincials  and  loyalists. 

It  was  supposed  in  England  that  if  a  strong  force  were  once  landed 
in  the  southern  colonies,  those  of  the  inhabitants  who  favoured  the 
royal  cause  would  hasten  to  join  it,  and  that  a  permanent  stand 
might  be  effected  in  that  quarter.  In  North  Carolina,  the  tory  inter- 
est was  known  to  have  many  adherents.  A  considerable  fleet,  with 
more  than  two  thousand  soldiers  on  board,  was,  therefore,  sent,  under 
command  of  Sir  Peter  Parker,  to  seize  upon  the  more  important 
sea-ports.  The  squadron  was  joined  by  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  who 
took  command  of  the  land  forces:  the  city  of  Charleston  was  selected 
as  the  first  point  of  attack. 

Timely  notice  of  these  preparations  had  been  obtained  by  the 
Americans,  and  a  fort  was  erected  on  Sullivan's  island  to  protect 
the  harbour.  General  Lee  was  entrusted  with  the  principal  com- 
mand. On  the  28th  of  June,  the  British  fleet  entered  the  harbour, 
and  commenced  bombarding  the  fort.  A  small  regiment,  under 
Colonel  Moultrie,  was  stationed  at  that  important  post.  The  fire 
was  returned  with  great  effect,  and  the  plans  of  the  admiral  being 
thwarted  by  the  grounding  of  several  of  his  vessels,  the  attempt  was 
abandoned.  No  landing  was  effected,  and  the  fleet  set  sail  for  New 
York,  the  appointed  rendezvous  for  the  reinforcements  ordered  from 
England  and  the  German  states. 

Every  thing  had  been  prepared  at  the  city  of  Charleston  to  give 
the  invaders  a  warm  reception.  Great  numbers  of  the  militia  had 
been  called  in  to  increase  the  garrison,  and  such  measures  were  Uiken 
for  the  defence  of  the  place  as  time  and  opportunity  permitted. 
The  enemy's  loss,  during  the  cannonade,  could  not  have  been  much 
less  than  two  hundred ;  that  of  the  garrison  at  the  fort  was  very  trifling. 

In  Canada,  the  American  forces  effected  nothing.  Reinforcements 
were  repeatedly  sent  out  to  the  camp,  but  when  British  forces  began 
to  pour  into  the  country,  the  troops,  after  several  disastrous  attempts 
to  retrieve  their  fortune,  were  drawn  off,  and  retreated  homeward 
by  Lake  Champlain.  The  loss  of  several  valuable  officers,  of  a  great' 
number  of  men,  and  a  great  expenditure  of  money — not  continental 
bills,  but  herd  cash — were  the  only  results  of  the  Canadian  expedi- 
tion, concerning  which  such  sanguine  expectations  had  been  formed. 
The  remnant  of  the  army  of  invasion  returned  in  miserable  plight, 
nearly  destitute,  and,  worse  than  all,  utterly  discouraged  and 
dispirited. 


THE  AMERICAN    BEVOLUTION.  267 


SIATE  OF   FEELING   IN    THE  COLONIES.  —  PAINE'8  WRITINGS. 
—  DEBATES  IN  CONGRESS. — THE  DECLARATION  OF  INDE- 
PENDENCE:    ITS     EFFECT     UPON     THE    PEOPLE. —  THE 
BRITISH    AT    STATEN     ISLAND.  —  PROCLAMATION 
OF   GENERAL    AND    OF    ADMIRAL    HOWE. 

The  formation  of  independent  systems  of  government  in  the  sep- 
arate colonies,  familiarized  the  minds  of  the  American  people  with 
the  idea  of  a  permanent  disconnection  with  the  British  government. 
"While  the  thought  of  state  sovereignty  was  flattering  to  the  pride 
of  the  provincials,  it  was  evident  that,  without  some  established 
political  connection,  no  great  national  object  could  be  obtained. 
Long  before  the  revolution,  it  is  said  that  the  chiefs  and  orators  of 
the  Iroquois,  or  Six  Nations,  advised  the  adoption,  by  the  colonies, 
of  a  federal  union  similar  to  their  own,  proving,  from  their  individ- 
ual experience,  the  practicability  of  union  for  all  purposes  of  common 
interest,  without  infringement  of  the  rights  of  each  distinct  tribe. 

In  the  winter  of  1776,  a  work,  entitled  "  Common  Sense"  written 
by  Thomas  Paine,  an  Englishman,  residing  in  Pennsylvania,  made 
its  appearance.  By  shrewd  reasoning,  logical  argument,  and  popu- 
lar declamation,  the  author  endeavoured  to  establish  the  practica- 
bility, and  even  necessity,  of  American  independence,  at  the  same 
time  that  he  excited  the  feelings  of  the  people,  by  a  vivid  represent- 
ation of  the  disgrace  and  misery  that  must  follow  close  upon  submis- 
sion to  England.  The  book  was  extensively  circulated,  and  exercised, 
beyond  question,  a  most  powerful  influence. 

The  late  action  of  |>arlian\ent,  in  tlie  employment  of  Hessian  mer- 
cenaries to  serve  in  America,  and  the  enlistment  of  the  Indian  border 
tribes  in  favour  of  the  royal  cause,  produced  a  storm  of  po|tular 
indignation.  The  petition  of  congress  iiad  been  spurned  with  dis- 
dain; no  measures  but  tliose  of  force  had  met  with  favour  in 
England;  and  it  was  now  plain  that  nothing  was  left  to  the  colo?iies 
but  an  open  declaration  to  the  world  of  their  determination  to  sunder 
forever  all  ti«*8  with  a  government  whose  protection  had  only  been 
extended  for  selfish  t-nds. 

"At  this  epoch,"  says  an  early  writer,  "America  was  found  in  a 


'<ii 


i."^ 


vm\ 


— ,  -,,J<', 


208 


THE   PEOPLE'S   BOOK    OF   HISTOKY. 


n 


strange  situation,  and  actually  unheard  of  till  then.  The  war  olt 
had  carried  on  with  so  much  vigour,  now,  for  more  than  a  year,  wa? 
directed  against  a  king  to  whom  she  incessantly  renewed  her  pro- 
testations of  obedience;  and  the  same  men  who  committed  all  the 
nets  of  rebellion,  would  by  no  means  be  called  rebels.  In  all  the 
tribunals  justice  was  still  administered  in  the  name  of  the  king; 
and  in  the  churches  prayers  were  continually  repeated  for  the  pre- 
servation and  happiness  of  that  prince,  whose  authority  was  not  only 
entirely  rejected,  but  also  fought  against  with  incredible  obstinacy." 

The  first  step  taken  by  congress  in  furtherance  of  the  popular 
cause,  was  a  recommendation  to  such  of  the  colonies  as  had  not 
already  adopted  a  provisional,  independent,  civil  government,  to 
proceed  to  the  establishment  of  "such  governments  as,  according  to 
the  opinion  of  the  representatives  of  the  people,  should  be  most 
conducive  to  the  happiness  of  their  constituents,  and  of  America  in 
general."  This  proposal  was  generally  acted  upon,  and,  in  many 
instances,  the  congressional  delegates  were  formally  invested  by  the 
colonial  assemblies  with  power  to  act  upon  the  anticipated  question. 

A  motion  in  favour  of  American  independence  was  made  in  con- 
gress on  the  7th  of  June,  and,  on  the  following  day,  was  debated 
with  great  ability  and  eloquence.  Richard  Henry  Lee,  of  Virginia, 
who  advocated  the  motion,  and  John  Dickinson,  of  Pennsylvania, 
who  argued  in  opposition,  were  the  principal  speakers.  The  decision 
of  the  question  was  postponed  until  July,  that  full  opportunity 
might  be  given  to  the  members  to  receive  instructions  from  their 
constituents. 

On  the  4th  of  July,  1776,  that  memorable  instrument,  known  ns 
the  "Declaration  of  Independence,"  was  signed  by  delegates  from 
the  thirteen  original  colonies,  thenceforth  the  United  States  of 
America.  It  was  understood  to  have  been  principally  drawn  up  bv 
Thomas  Jefferson,  who,  with  John  Adams,  Benjamin  Franklin, 
Roger  Sherman,  and  Philip  Livingston,  had  been  appointed  to  pre- 
pare it,  previous  to  the  late  adjournment. 

The  preamble  commences:  "When  in  the  course  of  human 
events,  it  becomes  necessary  for  one  people  to  dissolve  the  political 
bands  which  have  connected  them  with  another,  and  to  assume, 
among  the  powers  of  the  earth,  the  separate  and  equal  station  to 
which  the  laws  of  nature  and  of  nature's  God  entitle  them,  a  decent 
regard  to  the  opinions  of  mankind  requires  that  they  should  declare 
the  causes  which  impel  them  to  the  separation."     Then  follow  a 


THE  AMEKICAN   REVOLUTION. 


269 


ll 


declaration  of  rights,  natural  and  political,  a  forcible  recapitulation 
of  wrongs  inflicted  by  the  British  government,  with  a  reference  to 
the  neglect  or  contempt  with  which  all  petitions  for  redress  had 
be<?n  received,  and,  in  conclusion,  it  is  boldly  asserted,  "that  these 
united  colonies  are,  and  of  right  ought  to  be,  free  and  independent 
states;  that  they  are  absolved  from  all  allegiance  to  the  British 
crown,  and  that  all  political  connexion  between  them  and  the  State 
of  Great  Britain  is,  and  ought  to  be,  totally  dissolved."  The  sense 
of  personal  responsibility  felt  by  the  fifty-five  members  who  signed 
the  document,  is  expressed  in  the  closing  words:  "And,  for  the 
support  of  this  declaration,  with  a  firm  reliance  on  the  protection  of 
Divine  Providence,  we  mutually  pledge  to  each  other  our  lives,  our 
fortunes,  and  our  sacred  honour." 

In  all  the  principal  cities,  the  intelligence  of  this  act  of  congress 
was  received  with  the  most  extravagant  expressions  of  joy.  The 
exultation  of  the  army  was  boundless,  and  the  populace,  mad 
with  excitement,  celebrated  the  event  with  noisy  demonstrations. 
Royal  statues  and  insignia  were  every  where  thrown  down  and 
destroyed.  At  New  York,  an  image  of  George  III.,  formed,  by  a 
felicitous  propriety,  of  lead,  was  converted  into  musket-balls.  The 
condition  of  all  acknowledged  or  suspected  tories  was  lamentable, 
and  to  correct  and  moderate  the  excesses  committed  upon  this  class 
of  inhabitants,  congress  took  the  matter  in  hand,  instituting  commit- 
tees to  exert  a  constraining  power  over  those  who  were  suspected 
of  favouring  the  enemy.  "  The  most  obnoxious  tories  had  already 
emigrated;  and,  for  the  present,  the  new  governments  contented 
themselves  with  admonitions,  fines,  recognizances  to  keep  the  peace, 
and  prohibitions  to  go  beyond  certain  limits."* 

The  recommencement  of  hostilities  was  followed  by  a  long  suc- 
cession of  most  disheartening  reverses.  The  British  forces  had 
already  effected  a  landing  upon  Staten  Island,  where  they  encamped 
and  opened  communications  with  the  loyalists  in  the  adjoining  prov- 
inces. Strengthened  by  arrivals  from  England,  and  by  the  return 
northward  of  the  troops  embarked  under  Sir  Peter  Parker,  for  the 
southern  expedition,  to  a  force  of  more  than  twenty  thousand  men. 
General  Howe  prepared  for  a  descent  upon  New  York.  An  attempt 
to  open  negotiations  with  congress,  and  with  the  commander-in-chief 
of  the  American  army,  had  previously  failed,  from  the  refusal  of  the 
British  officials  to  treat  otherwise  than  as  with  private  individuals. 

•Hildreth. 


..A. 


270 


THE  PEOPLE'S   BOOK  OF  HISTOBY. 


The  result  of  an  interview,  afterwards  brought  about,  between  Gen- 
eral and  Admiral  Howe,  and  deputies  commissioned  by  congress, 
was  only  to  convince  the  former  that  no  terms  would  bo  listened  to 
which  they  were  empowered  to  grant  "    , 

The  two  brothers  Howe  were  commissioned  by  the  king  to  graht 
discretionary  pardon  to  all  in  the  colonies  who  would  consent  to 
renew  their  allegiance.  Proclamations  were  issued  in  accordance 
with  this  commission,  calling  upon  all  loyal  subjects  to  separate 
themselves  from  the  rebels,  and  representing  to  the  malcontents  the 
desperate  condition  to  which  further  resistance  must  reduce  them, 
while,  on  the  other  hand,  submission  would  ensure  present  safety, 
and  the  royal  promise  for  a  future  redress  of  all  grievances. 


CTTAPTVT^     TTTT 


1 


LANDING    or    THB    BRITISH    ON    LONG    ISLAND. — BATTLI   01 
BROOKLTN.  —  THB   AMBRICAN  PORCBS    DRITBN   FROK  LONG 
ISLAND.  —  OCCOPATION   OP   NBW  YORK   BY   THB   BRITISH. 
—  WASHINGTON'S  ENCAMPMBNT  AT  HARLBH   HBIQHT8: 
AT  WHITE  PLAINS. — STORMING  OF  PORT  WASHING- 
ION. —  THE   RETREAT   THROUGH    NBW   JERSEY. — 
CAPTURE    OP    GENERAL    LBB.  —  CONDITION    OP 
PRISONERS.  —  LAKE  OHAHPLAIN:     DESTRUC- 
TION OP   THE   AMERICAN  TBSSELS. — GEN- 
EROSITY OF  CARLBTON. —  RHODE  ISLAND 
SEIZED    BY    THB    BRITISH. 


Anvicipatixg  an  attack  by  way  of  Long  Island,  Qeneral  Wash- 
ington posted  a  force  of  about  nine  thousand  men,  under  General 
Putnam,  at  Bnwklyn.  The  approach  to  the  American  camp  from 
the  point  where  the  British  were  expected  to  land,  was  by  four 
roads,  two  leading  over  the  intervening  hills,  and  the  others,  lesfl 
direct,  deviating  in  opposite  directions,  one  along  the  western  shore, 
the  other  eastward.  These  avenues,  owing  to  some  misapprehension 
or  bad  management,  were  insufiiciently  guarded. 

The  British  having  landed  on  the  22d  of  August  (1776),  com- 
menced their  march  towards  Brooklyn,  on  the  night  of  the  26th. 
Upon  the  first  iiittlligeiice  of  their  approach,  two  divisions  of  the 


'  i-iu.. 


THE  AMERICAN   BEVOLUTION. 


271 


American  army,  under  Sullivan  and  Stirling,  were  dispatched  to 
repel  the  advance  over  the  hills  and  by  the  western  road.  The 
opposing  forces  were  already  engaged,  when  the  Americans  were 
thrown  into  confusion  by  an  attack  in  the  rear — Clinton,  with  the 
most  efficient  portion  of  his  troops,  having  made  a  detour  for  that 
purpose,  by  the  unguarded  eastern  approach.  Stirling's  division, 
by  hard  fighting,  mostly  regained  the  camp,  but  that  of  Sullivan 
was  destroyed  or  compelled  to  surrender.  Both  these  generals  were 
made  prisoners,  together  with  not  far  from  one  thousand  of  their 
men.    A  heavy  loss  was  also  sustained  in  killed  and  wounded. 

On  the  night  of  the  29th,  the  American  troops  effected  a  retreat 
across  the  East  river,  to  New  York,  leaving  the  enemy  in  possession 
of  Long  Island.  The  main  force  of  the  continentals  was  now  en- 
camped at  the  heights  of  Harlem,  or  within  the  city  of  New  York. 
The  British  had  control  of  the  surrounding  waters,  the  defences 
erected  upon  the  Hudson  having  proved  insufficient  to  prevent  a 
passage  up  the  river.  Under  protection  of  a  heavy  fire  from  the 
shipping,  a  landing  upon  the  island  was  effected  by  General  Howe 
on  the  15th  of  September.  The  troops  drawn  up  in  opposition,  fled 
in  the  most  cowardly  manner,  and  an  evacuation  of  the  city  was 
rendered  absolutely  necessary.  The  Americans  sustained  severe 
loss  in  artillery  and  stores,  which,  upon  their  hasty  retreat,  were 
abandoned  to  the  enemy. 

Washington's  forces,  securely  posted  upon  the  heights  of  Harlem, 
awaited  the  movements  of  the  British.  The  latter  kept  possession 
of  the  North  river,  and  made  advances  down  the  northern  shore  of 
£he  Sound.  It  became  necessary  to  occupy  a  position  further  north, 
to  avoid  being  cut  off  from  supplies,  and  a  new  camp  was  formed, 
accordingly,  at  White  Plains.  The  enemy  gained  a  further  advan- 
tage in  a  partial  engagement  on  the  28th  of  October,  in  which  a 
detachment  of  between  one  and  two  thousand  Americans  was  driven 
from  its  position  near  the  main  camp,  with  great  loss. 

Forts  Washington  and  Lee,  which  were  intended  to  command  the 
passage  of  the  Hudson,  being  situated  upon  opposite  banks  of  the 
river,  a  few  miles  above  New  York,  were  the  next  objects  of  attack. 
They  had  been  strongly  garrisoned,  when  the  main  body  of  the 
American  army  moved  northward.  The  first  of  these  was  taken 
by  storm,  not  without  severe  loss  on  the  part  of  the  assailants, 
and  two  thousand  prisoners  were  secured.  Fort  Lee  was  soon 
after  hastily  evacuated;  the  artillery  of  both  strongholds,  lo- 
VoL.  IV.— 46 


\r 


272 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


geiher  with  a  great  amount  of  valuable  stores,  was  lost  to  the 
Americans. 

This  was  in  the  middle  of  November:  the  continental  army 
reduced  by  {hese  losses,  by  desertion,  and  by  the  expiration  of  the 
terms  of  enlistment,  to  between  three  and  four  thousand  men,  was 
driven  from  post  to  post  in  New  Jersey.  Slowly  retiring  before  a 
greatly  superior  force,  Waabington  occupied  in  succession  the  towns 
of  Newark,  Brunswick,  Princeton,  Sterling,  and  Trenton.  Hia 
troops,  disheartened  by  defeat,  and  worn  out  by  marching  and  ex- 
posure, were  in  a  condition  of  miserable  destitution,  while  the  pur- 
suers were  well  supplied  with  the  necessaries  and  conveniences  of  a 
campaign. 

Lord  Cornwallis,  with  an  overwhelming  force,  continued  to  press 
upon  the  retreating  army,  and,  on  the  2d  of  December,  Washington 
transported  his  troops  across  the  Delaware,  taking  the  usual  precau- 
tions to  arrest  the  progress  of  the  pursuers  by  the  destruction  of 
bridges  and  the  removal  of  boats.  The  British  took  possession  of 
Trenton  and  the  adjoining  country,  but  neglected  to  push  their 
advantage  by  an  immediate  passage  of  the  river. 

Washington,  anxious  to  recruit  hia  forces,  had  issued  orders  to 
other  divisions  of  the  army  to  join  him  with  all  expedition.  General 
Lee,  from  a  spirit  of  insubordination  or  self-sufficiency,  was  dilatory 
in  obeying  the  order.  Avoiding  the  British  army,  by  a  detour, 
he  occupied  the  highlands  at  the  westward,  apparently  in  hopes  of 
effecting  some  bold  manoeuvre  on  his  own  account.  Exposing  him- 
self carelessly,  with  an  insufficient  guard,  he  was  betrayed  by  tories, 
and  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  The  refusal  of  the  British 
authorities  to  consider  him  a  prisoner  of  war,  on  the  ground  that, 
having  been  an  officer  in  the  English  service,  he  was  only  to  be 
looked  upon  as  a  traitor,  led  to  retaliation  upon  prisoners  in  the 
hands  of  the  Americans.  Exchanges  were  impeded,  and  a  sense  of 
mutual  injury  led  to  lamentable  results. 

Of  the  American  prisoners  in  New  York,  it  is  said  that,  "they 
were  shut  up  in  churches,  and  in  other  places,  exposed  to  all  the 
inclemencies  of  the  air.  They  were  not  allowed  sufficient  nourish- 
ment; their  fare  was  scanted,  even  of  coarse  bread,  and  certain  ali- 
ments which  excited  disgust.  The  sick  were  confined  with  the 
healthy,  both  equally  a  prey  to  the  most  shocking  defect  of  cleanli- 
ness. *  *  A  confined  and  impure  air  engendered  mortal  diseases; 
mure  than  fifteen  hundred  of  these  unfortunate  men  perished  in  a 


THE  AMERICAN   REVOLUTION. 


273 


few  weeks."  Lee  was  afterwards  exchanged  for  General  Prescott, 
who  was  surprised  and  captured  at  his  quarters,  on  Bhode  Island, 
by  a  small  party  of  Americans. 

During  the  autumn  of  1776,  and  the  early  portion  of  the  ensuing 
winter,  fortune  seemed  to  frown  upon  the  American  cause  in  every 
quarter.  At  the  north,  the  possession  of  Lake  Champlain  was  an 
object  of  eager  contention.  Both  parties  busied  themselves  in  the 
construction  of  vessels,  for  which  the  British,  under  Carleton,  had 
far  greater  facilities  than  the  Americans.  The  little  squadron  of  the 
latter,  commanded  by  Arnold,  was  defeated  on  the  6th  and  7th  of 
October.  One  of  the  vessels  was  taken,  and  the  others  were  de- 
stroyed, to  prevent  their  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy.  The 
Americans,  however,  still  held  Port  Ticonderoga. 

The  British,  having  possession  of  the  lake,  made  no  further  attempt 
upon  the  American  fortifications,  but  mostly  retired  to  Montreal,  a 
garrison  being  left  at  Isle  au  Noix.  It  is  pleasing  to  revert  to  acts 
of  kindness  and  generosity  in  the  midst  of  scenes  calculated  to  arouse 
every  bad  passion  in  the  minds  of  men.  Such  are  recorded  of 
Carleton,  of  whom  it  is  said,  that  "prior  to  his  retreat,  from  the 
singular  courtesy  and  humanity  of  his  character,  he  sent  to  their 
homes  the  American  officers  who  had  fallen  into  his  power,  adminis- 
tering generously  to  all  their  wants.  He  exercised  the  same  humanity 
towards  the  common  soldiers.  The  greater  part  were  almost  naked: 
he  caused  them  to  be  completely  clothed,  and  set  them  at  liberty, 
after  having  taken  their  oath  that  they  would  not  serve  against  the 
armies  of  the  king." — {Botta.) 

Early  in  December,  the  British  secured  another  important  position 
in  New  England.  A  fleet,  under  Sir  Peter  Parker,  with  large  forces 
of  English  and  Hessians,  commanded  by  General  Clinton,  entered 
Narragansett  Bay.  The  island  of  Rhode  Island,  with  those  of  Con- 
anicut  and  Prudence,  were  occupied  without  resistance;  the  ex- 
cellent harbour  of  Newport  afforded  admirable  facilities  for  future 
operations  by  sea;  and,  as  the  entrance  to  the  bay  was  commanded, 
the  American  squadron,  under  Commodore  Hopkins,  together  with 
a  number  of  private  armed  vessels,  was  prevented  from  putting  to 
sea,  and  rendered,  for  the  time,  useless. 

So  dark  were  the  prospects  of  the  patriots,  at  this  crisis,  that  many 
among  the  most  sanguine  were  discouraged ;  and,  of  the  wavering, 
and  of  those  who,  at  heart,  favoured  the  royal  cause,  great  numbers 
availed  themselves  of  the  oflfers  proclaimed  by  the  Howes,  by  ao 


274 


TI1«  TKOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  BISTOBY. 


knowledging  allegiance  to  the  king,  and  the  acceptance  of  a  Britiah 
protection.  Allen  and  Galloway,  former  members  of  the  continental 
congress,  from  Pennsylvania,  were  among  the  number  of  those  who 
thus  avowed  their  disapproval  of  the  revolution,  or  their  distrust  in 
the  ability  of  its  advocates  to  carry  out  the  great  design. 


CITADTTTD      'W'T'tr 
IlilrXJliM     AXV. 

00NORB8S   AT   BALTIMORE.  —  ARMY   ORGANIZATION. — POWER! 
CONFERRED   UPON  WASHINGTON. — PASSAGE  OP  THE  DELA- 
WARE,  AND   RECOVERY   OP   TRENTON. BATTLE   OP    PRINCE- 
TON.—  END  OF   THE  CAMPAIGN. — MARAUDING   PARTIES 
—  NEGOTIATION    WITH   EUROPEAN    POWERS. — FOR- 
EIGN   0F.PICER3    IN    THE    AMERICAN    SSRTICB. 


CoNGRKSS,  being  in  session  at  Philadelphia  when  the  continental 
army  was  driven  across  the  Delaware,  found  itself  in  too  dangerous 
proximity  to  the  British  army,  and  an  adjournment  to  Baltimore 
speedily  followed  the  establishment  of  the  latter  at  Trenton.  The 
details  of  military  org.inization  necessarily  occupied  altnost  the  un- 
divided attention  of  this  body.  The  straits  to  which  the  continental 
army  was  reduced,  by  the  diminution  of  its  numbers,  consequent 
upon  the  expiration  of  terms  of  enlistment,  rendered  the  establish- 
ment of  a  more  permanent  force  a  matter  of  pressing  necessity. 
This  measure  had,  all  along,  been  vehemently  urged  by  Washington, 
who  had  fully  experienced  the  difficulty  of  preserving  discipline  in 
an  army  whose  materials  were  subject  to  constant  change.  Pro- 
vision, therefore,  was  made  for  the  enlistment,  by  apportionment 
among  the  provinces,  of  troo{)S  to  serve  during  the  war,  or  for  a 
period  of  three  years.  The  first,  in  addition  to  a  present  bounty 
in  money,  were  to  receive  each  one  hundred  acres  of  public  land 
on  retiring  from  service. 

Absolute  discretionary  powers  were,  at  the  same  time,  bestowed 
upon  the  commander-in-chief,  for  the  six  months  succeeding,  "to  call 
into  service  the  militia  of  the  several  states;  to  form  such  magazines 
of  provisions,  and  in  such  places  as  he  should  think  proper;  to  dis- 
place and  appoint  all  officers  under  the  rank  of  brigadier-general, 


T^E   AMERICAN   REVOLUTION. 


275 


and  to  fill  up  all  vacancies  in  every  other  department  in  the  Amer- 
ican armies;  to  take,  wherever  he  might  be,  whatever  he  might 
want  for  the  use  of  the  army,  if  the  inhabitants  would  not  sell  it, 
allowing  a  reasonable  price  for  the  same;  to  arrest  and  confine  per- 
sons who  refused  to  take  the  continental  currency,  or  were  otherwise 
disaffected  to  the  American  cause;  returning  to  the  states  of  which 
they  were  citizens  their  names  and  the  nature  of  their  offences,  with 
the  proofs  to  substantiate  them."  Very  large  additional  issues  of 
paper  money  had  been  made  during  the  session,  and  the  most 
stringent  regulations  soon  followed  to  enforce  its  receipt 

Never  were  the  powers  of  a  dictator  more  worthily  bestowed  than 
in  this  instance.  General  Washington  exhibited,  in  the  melancholy 
state  of  affairs  consequent  upon  the  capture  of  New  York,  an  energy 
corresponding  to  the  requirements  of  his  position.  The  army  had 
been  reinforced  by  the  arrival  of  Lee's  division,  under  Sullivan,  and 
by  the  militia  from  the  adjoining  counties.  Thus  strengthened,  he 
determined  to  enter  at  once  upon  offensive  operations. 

The  enemy's  force  being  widely  extended  along  the  left  bank  of 
the  Delaware,  a  division  of  fifteen  hundred  men,  mostly  Hessians, 
under  Ralle,  constituted  the  entire  army  of  occupation  at  Trenton. 
On  the  night  of  December  25th,  Washington  crossed  the  river,  with 
twenty-five  hundred  men,  nine  miles  above  the  city.  The  cold  was 
severe,  and  the  stream  being  blocked  with  floating  ice,  nearly  the 
whole  night  was  consumed  in  the  business  of  transportation. 

At  four  o'clock,  on  the  following  morning,  the  army  was  put  in 
motion,  in  two  divisions — one  following  the  river,  the  other  proceed- 
ing by  the  Pennington  road,  further  to  the  left.  Although  it  proved 
impracticable,  from  the  state  of  the  roads,  and  the  difficulty  of  a 
night  march — rendered  doubly  arduous  by  an  inclement  wintry 
storm — to  arrive  before  day,  the  surprise  was  no  less  complete. 
The  Hessians  were  overpowered,  and  driven  in  on  all  sides;  their 
retreat  was  cut  off  in  the  direction  of  Princeton ;  their  commander 
was  slain;  and  two-thirds  of  the  whole  force  surrendered  at  discre- 
tion. The  remainder  escaped  by  the  Bordentown  road.  THe  Amer- 
cans  recrossed  the  river,  with  their  prisoners,  having  sustained  but 
a  trifling  loss — only  about  ten,  in  killed  and  wounded. 

A  few  days  subsequent,  Washington  having  again  occupied  Tren- 
ton, a  powerful  army,  under  Cornwallis,  approached  the  town  from 
the  direction  of  Princeton.  One-half  of  the  American  forces  were 
undisciplined  militia,  and  all  were  ill  prepared  for  the  hardships  of  a 


276 


TUK  l'KUFLK'8  BUU  K  OV  11I8T0KY. 


winter  campaign.  A  general  engagement  would  have  been  hazard* 
''US  in  the  extreme,  and,  at  a  council  of  the  American  officers,  it 
W^  concluded  to  make  an  a^Uunpt  at  turning  the  cuoniies'  flank. 
FrccuQtions  were  taken  to  leave  the  iniprosHion  that  active  prepara* 
tions  were  in  procei»  fur  intrencLincnt,  while  the  main  army  (on  the 
night  of  January  2d,  1777,)  silently  defiled  upon  the  AUeutuwn 
road,  towards  Princeton. 

At  the  latter  place,  three  British  regiments,  lefl  in  the  rear  by 
Cornwallis,  were  encountered.  One  of  these,  after  w>me  hard  fight- 
ing, pushed  on  towards  Trenton:  the  other  two  ?ia.ia^  sustained 
considerable  loss,  retreated  to  Brunswick.  3o.iir,  larr  hundred 
prisoners  wore  taken  by  the  Americans.  ' 

The  British,  at  Trenton,  deceived  by  ;iio  conti..' ;  ;ice  through  the 
night  of  the  patrol  within  the  Amerior  i  '  es,  und  by  the  camp-fires, 
which  had  been  replenished  before  the  march  commenced,  had  no 
intimation  of  the  state  of  affairs  until  they  heard  khe  sound  of  artil- 
lery in  their  rear.  Cornwa'.lis  immediately  marched  for  Brunswick 
to  protect  his  military  stores  at  that  place,  and  Washington,  still 
anxious  to  avoid  a  general  engagement,  moved  towards  Morristuwn, 
where  he  established  the  army  in  winter-quarters. 

Nearly  the  whole  of  New  Jersey  was  thus  recovered  from  the 
enemy,  and  detachments  were  quartered  at  different  points  to  retain 
p)OS8e88ion.  Through  the  remainder  of  the  winter  and  spring,  neither 
army  was  engaged  in  any  general  military  operation.  The  British 
army  waa  stationed  at  Amboy  and  Brunswick,  suffering  no  stnall 
inconvenience  from  failure  of  provisions.  Frightful  outrages  were 
committed  by  small  marauding  parties  of  soldiery.  The  Hessians, 
in  particular,  were  8tigmatiz<^d  as  monsters  of  cruelty.  A  bloody 
retaliation  was  not  slow  to  follow,  and  many  of  the  loyalists  of  New 
Jersey,  even  such  as  had  held  aloof  from  all  share  in  political 
controversy,  and  could  be  accused  of  no  overt  act  of  opposition  to 
the  patriots,  too  often  were  compelled  to  suffer  for  wrongs  in  which 
they  had  no  she '  ;. 

While  the  pivovfj?'  ^i'  '"S  were  *'•"-<  in  coii-parative  repow,  the 
calamities  of  a  dUt.,  \  war  were  still  widely  felt  Privateers 
scoured  the  sea,  and  their  crews  and  commanders,  growing  bolder 
by  experience,  pushed  their  adventures  in  waters  where,  at  first, 
it  was  deemed  rashness  to  intrude.  Prizes  taken  by  American 
vessels  were  disposed  of  without  trouble  in  France.  Old  national 
feelings  of  jealousy  and  antipathy  caused  the  government  of  that 


THE  AMEBICAN   REVOLUTION. 


277 


country  to  wink  at  irregularities  which  o^-yrattsl  only  lo  Uio  injury 
of  liT  rival. 

CongreM  had  not  failed,  ere  this,  to  commiwiion  ftinbassadore  to 
vat!  MS  European  courts,  to  solicit  political  aid  and  acknowledgment 
of  the  iiidopendence  of  the  stutes.  Th(j«je  who  filled  this  important 
oftlto  at  the  court  of  France,  were  benjamin  Franklin,  Silas  Deane, 
and  Arthur  Lee.  The  fiivoiirwith  which  the  American  claims  were 
regarded  in  that  quarter  was  manifest,  and  had  '  aubstantially 
shown,  even  before  the  declaration  of  indepondencw,  I  au  ing'  uious 
and  secret  operation  for  fun  ishing  military  supplies  l*.  'ho  colonies. 
These  had  been  forwarded  to  islands  in  the  West  1  .,  iis  by 
private  adventure,  thence  to  bo  dispatched  for  the  n  -<i  of  tli  uolonieB. 
France,  however,  was  not  as  yet  prepared  to  enter  u  ope  contro- 
versy with  England,  by  an  acknowledgment  of  i  ;  indt/'ondent 
existence  of  the  American  republic. 

Many  military  officer.- ,  from  France  and  other  Europt^an  i  tions, 
were  anxious  to  procure  commissions  in  the  Americ;:  \  scivice. 
Many  were  sent  over  thr  ugh  the  agency  of  Mr.  Deai  the  ex- 

pectation of  receiving  h.i;h  commissions.  Some  of  ■■  proved 
worthy  of  the  confidence  placed  in  them,  particula  ose  em- 

ployed in  the  engineer  dej  irtment;  others,  although  don  dess  men 
of  capacity  and  competent  i  lilitary  education,  were  entire  unfitted 
to  deal  with  a  soldiery  of  the  character  of  the  continer.  army. 
Among  those  whose  services  vere  accepted,  the  most  celebrn  !,  were 
the  German  Baron  de  Kalb,  the  Polish  officers  Kosui  ^  and 
Pulaski,  and  the  young  Marquis  de  la  Fayette.  The  lai.  came 
over  from  France  at  his  owi  expense,  and  volunteered  serve 
without  pay.  He  was  made  n>njor-general,  and  became  the  luumate 
friend  and  companion  of  the  commander-in-obiefl 


•*•*» 


278 


THE  PEOPLE'S   BOOK  OF  HISTOBY. 


EXPEDITIONS  AGAINST  PEEISIILL  AND  DANBURT. — BRITISH 
PLAN   OP  CAMPAIGN. — HOWE'S  DEPARTURE  FROM  NEW  TORI. 

BURGOTNE'S   ARMY:    HIS    PROCLAMATION. SIEGE    OP 

TICONDEROGA. RETREAT   OF   ST.   CLAIR. BURGOYNE 

ON    THE    HUDSON. — 8IE0B    OF    FORT    SCHUYLER. — 
BATTLE    OF    BENNINGTON. — INDIAN    WARFARE. 


The  spring  of  1777  passed  by  without  any  irapoi^nt  operation 
on  the  part  of  either  of  the  main  contending  armies.  The  English 
succeeded  in  destroying  large  quantities  of  American  stores  at  Peeks- 
kill,  on  the  Hudson,  and  at  Danbury,  in  the  western  part  of  Con- 
necticut. The  latter  expedition  was  intrusted  to  governor,  then 
General  Tryon,  with  a  detachment  of  no  less  than  two  thousand 
men.  His  retreat  was  not  accomplished  without  loss,  the  militia  of 
the  vicinity,  under  Arnold  and  Wooster,  harassing  him  by  repeated 
attacks.  Wooster  received  a  fatal  wound  in  one  of  these  encounters. 
The  bravery  of  Arnold,  on  this  occasion,  was  highly  commended, 
and  rewarded  by  promotion. 

On  the  other  hand,  a  small  force  from  Connecticut,  crossing  over 
to  Long  Island,  proceeded  to  Sag-harbour,  destroyed  British  stores 
and  vessels,  and  took  nearly  a  hundred  prisoners. 

The  important  events  of  the  summer  and  autumn,  transpiring  in 
different  portions  of  the  country,  and  connected  with  distinct  mili- 
tary operations,  must  be  examined  without  reference  to  the  date  of 
their  occurrence.  The  British  plan  of  campaign  was,  that  Howe's 
army  should  engage  the  attention  of  the  main  body  of  the  continent- 
als, threatening  Philadelphia  and  other  important  towns  in  the 
middle  states,  while  a  powerful  force,  under  Burgoyne,  was  to  invade 
New  England,  seizing  and  occupying  the  military  posts  on  Cham- 
plain  and  the  Hudson,  effecting  a  junction  with  the  forces  at  New 
York,  and  cutting  off  communication  between  the  north  and  south. 

Howe,  after  various  manoeuvres,  intended  to  bring  about  a  gen- 
eral engagement — the  result  of  which  could  hardly  be  doubtful, 
considering  the  difference  in  numbers  and  equipments  between  the 
oj "posing  forces — crossed  over  to  Staten  Island,  embarked  with  six- 


THE  AMERICAN  BEVOLUTION. 


279 


teen  thousand  men,  and  made  sail,  in  the  month  of  July,  without 
any  intimation  of  his  destination  having  transpired. 

In  Canada,  Burgoyne,  who  had  received  the  chief  command  of 
the  army  of  the  north,  commenced  preparations  in  May.     He  was 
enabled  to  marshal  a  fine  army  of  seven  thousand  regulars,  British 
and  Germans,  an  artillery  corps  of  five  hundred,  and  seven  hundred 
Canadians,  destined  for  the  various  duties  of  rangers,  woodmen,  &c. 
In  addition  to  this,  a  grand  meeting  of  the  Iroquois  Indians  wj 
called,  and  their  services  were  secured  by  additional  promises  oi 
reward  and  protection.     A  flaming  proclamation  was  next  issued, 
for  the  encouragement  of  the  New  England  loyalists,  and  the  intim- 
idation of  the  rebels.     He  promised  protection  to  those  who  should 
"quietly  pursue  their  occupations,"  and  full  pay  for  all  that  should 
be  furnished  for  the  army ;  the  contumacious  were  threatened  with 
the  "thousands  of  Indians  that  were  under  his  direction,"  and  whose 
fiiry  was  to  be  let  loose  upon  those  who  should  take  part  against 
the  king. 

Passing  the  lake,  Burgoyne  laid  siege  to  Ticonderoga,  at  the  com- 
mencement of  the  month  of  July.  The  garrison,  under  St.  Clair, 
was  entirely  insufficient  for  the  protection  of  the  fort  It  numbered, 
including  militia,  about  three  thousand  men,  but  the  works  were 
very  extensive,  and  the  troops  were  ill  provided  with  arms.  A 
retreat  was  effected  on  the  night  of  the  6th,  but  the  Americans  were 
unable  to  gain  sufficient  time  upon  the  enemy.  The  baggage  and 
stores  were  dispatched  up  Wood  Creek,  towards  Skeenesborough, 
now  Whitehall,  which  place  was  appointed  for  general  rendezvous. 
A  bridge  and  other  obstructions  were  soon  removed  by  the  British, 
and  free  passage  was  opened  to  the  creek.  The  boats  containing 
the  stores  were  pursued  and  captured. 

The  army,  retreating  in  the  same  direction  by  land,  was  hotly 
pursued  by  a  detachment  of  the  enemy,  under  General  Fraser.  The 
rear  division  was  overtaken,  on  the  7th  of  July,  and  completely 
routed.  The  main  body,  led  by  St.  Clair,  reached  General  Schuy- 
ler's head-quarters,  at  Fort  Edward,  on  the  Hudson  river,  after  a 
toilsome  march  over  rough  roads  through  the  wilderness. 

Notwithstanding  every  effiart  made  to  delay  and  obstruct  the 
advance  of  the  enemy,  by  blocking  up  the  forest-roads,  and  choking 
the  channel  of  the  narrow  creek  which  connects  with  the  southern 
extremity  of  Lake  Champlain,  Burgoyne  penetrated  to  the  Hudson, 
before  the  close  of  the  month.     Evacuating  Fort  Edward,  on  the 


280 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTOBT. 


approach  of  the  British,  General  Schuyler  retreated  to  Saratoga, 
thence  to  Stillwater,  and,  the  enemy  continuing  to  press  onward,  he 
finally  encamped  near  the  mouth  of  the  Mohawk. 

These  disasters,  at  the  north,  were  popularly  attributed  to  incompe- 
tency on  the  part  of  the  commanding  officers,  who  were  accordingly 
superseded  by  Generals  Gates,  Arnold,  and  Lincoln.  Reinforcements, 
including  the  body  of  riflemen,  under  the  redoubted  Morgan,  were 
also  ordered,  in  all  haste,  to  the  seat  of  war  at  the  north. 

Before  proceeding  down  the  river,  Burgoyne  was  desirous  of  col- 
lecting stores  and  provisions  at  his  camp  on  the  Hudson,  by  the 
route  laid  open  from  the  head  of  Lake  Champlain.  Meanwhile,  two 
excursions  were  planned  and  attempted  at  the  west  and  east.  Gen- 
eral Barry  St.  Leger,  with  several  companies  of  regulars,  and  a  large 
body  of  Indians,  under  command  of  Joseph  Brant,  early  in  August, 
besieged  Fort  Schuyler,  an  important  military  post,  situated  near  the 
head- waters  of  the  Mohawk.  Ge.  '  Herkimer,  with  nearly  a 
thousand  of  the  provincial  militia,,  ent^cavoured  to  relieve  the  fo-t, 
but  fell  into  an  ambuscade  p.'epared  by  Brant  with  his  followers 
and  an  English  detachment  A  bloody  but  indecisive  engagement 
ensued,  known  as  the  "battle  of  Oriskany."  Herkimer  was  killed, 
together  with  several  hundred  of  his  followers.  The  enemy's  loss 
was  probably  about  the  same;  and,  although  no  communication  was 
opened  with  the  fort,  the  commandant,  Willett,  was  enabled  to 
make  a  sally,  and  to  plunder  the  British  encampment  of  stores  and 
provisions. 

A  detachment,  principally  Hessians,  under  Colonel  Baum,  was  also 
dispatched  by  Burgoyne,  to  procure  cattle  and  other  plunder  in  the 
eastern  settlements.  The  seizure  of  stores  accumulated  at  Banning- 
ton,  was  the  special  object  of  the  expedition.  Colonel  Stark,  having 
command  of  the  militia  in  that  quarter,  learning  the  approach  of  the 
enemy,  made  every  effort  to  prepare  for  resistance. 

Baum,  finding  himself  opposed  by  a  superior  force,  halted  near 
the  town,  and  commenced  throwing  up  intrenchments.  On  the 
16th  of  August,  he  was  attacked,  and  utterly  defeated  by  the  pro- 
vincials. Reinforcements  arrived  simultaneously  on  either  side- 
Colonel  Warner  making  his  appearance  with  a  regiment  of  conti- 
nental troops,  from  Manchester,  at  the  same  time  that  a  strong  force, 
under  Colonel  Breyman,  sent  to  support  Baum's  division,  was  en- 
gaged with  the  American  militia.  The  Americans  maintained  their 
advantage  ;•  the  British  effected  rf  retreat  at  nightfall,  having  sustained 


THE  AMEIICAN   REVOLUTION. 


281 


a  loss  of  about  eight  hundred  in  killed  and  prisoners.  A  moat  sea- 
sonable supply  of  arms  and  artillery  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  pro- 
vincials.   Of  the  latter,  only  about  sixty  were  killed  or  wounded. 

A  few  days  later,  Arnold  relieved  Fort  Schuyler,  and  seized  upon 
the  tents  and  stores  of  the  besieging  army,  abandoned  in  hasty 
retreat.  Many  of  the  Iroquois  allies  of  the  English  became  dis- 
heartened at  these  reverses,  and  drew  off.  Generally,  however,  they 
were  proof  against  the  efforts  of  agents  in  behalf  of  the  Americans 
to  secure  their  services,  or  promises  of  neutrality.  Outrages  com- 
mitted by  the  savages  on  the  march,  their  cruelty  to  prisoners,  and 
their  ferocious  manner  of  warfare,  excited  universal  indignation 
against  Burgoyne,  who  was  considered  responsible  for  all  the  enor- 
mities committed.  We  are  informed  that  he  used  what  influence 
he  possessed  over  the  chiefs,  to  induce  conformity  with  the  rules  of 
civilized  warfare;  but  what  would  previous  exhortation  or  threats 
avail,  in  the  midst  of  the  dangers  and  excitement  of  actual  conflict? 
The  check  given  to  the  British  at  Bennington  and  Fort  Schuyler, 
gave  great  encouragement  to  the  Americans ;  and  it  was  now  seen 
that  the  provincial  militia,  under  brave  and  energetic  commanders, 
was  a  more  effective  force  than  it  had  generally  bee^  considered. 


BATTLES    AT    BKHMUS'    HEIGHTS.  —  BURGOTNE'S  RETREAT  TO 
SARATOGA;   HIS  SURRENDER.  —  DETENTION  OP  PRISONERS. 

— EXPEDITION    PROM    NEW    YORK    UP    THE    HUDSON. 

HOWE'S    MARCH    UPON    PHILADELPHIA. — BATTLE    AT 

BRANDYWINE    CREEK.  —  BRITISH     OCCUPATION    OP 

PHILADELPHIA.  —  BATTLE    OF    GERMANTOWN. — 

REDUCTION   OF   FORTS   MIFFLIN   AND   MERCER. — 

WINTER-QUARTERS    AT    VALLEY    FORGE. 


Burgoyne,  having  procured  provisions  for  a  month's  campaign, 
crossed  the  Hudson,  and  continued  his  progress  southward.  The 
American  army,  numbering  about  six  thousand  men,  and  com- 
manded by  General  Gates,  lay  encamped  upon  Behmus'  heights,  on 
the  west  bank  of  the  river.    The  place  presented  natural  facilities 


282 


THE  rEOPLE'S  BOOK  OP  HISTORY. 


for  defence,  of  which  due  advantage  had  been  taken  in  the  disposi- 
tion of  the  camp,  and  the  formation  of  batteries  and  intrenchments. 

On  the  19th  of  September,  an  indecisive  battle  was  fought,  in 
which,  although  the  British  remained  masters  of  the  field,  at  night- 
fall, they  sustained  much  the  heaviest  loss,  the  number  of  killed 
and  wounded  on  either  side  being,  respectively,  less  than  three 
hundred  and  over  five  hundred.  Two  days  previous  to  this  event 
communication  with  Canada  had  been  cut  off,  by  the  surprise  and 
capture  of  the  British  forts  on  Lake  George,  so  that  nothing  but 
brilliant  success  could  now  enable  Burgoyne  to  maintain  himself  in 
the  enemy's  country.  He  anxiously  awaited  promised  reinforce- 
ments from  New  York. 

On  the  7th  of  October,  the  British  troops  again  offered  battle. 
The  American  forces  had  been  increased  by  new  recruits,  and,  exhil- 
erated  by  the  remembrance  of  recent  successes,  and  the  reputed 
destitution  of  the  enemy,  they  fought  with  courage  and  impetuosity. 
Arnold  exhibited  his  usual  energy  and  bravery.  The  enemy  vere 
driven  back  to  their  camp,  and  a  portion  of  their  intrenchments  was 
forced  and  held  by  a  Massachusetts  regiment,  under  Colonel  Brooks. 

Burgoyne  drgw  off  his  forces  during  the  night,  and  took  up  a 
new  position,  which  he  held  during  the  day  ensuing.  On  the  9th 
h^  retreated  to  Saratoga.  He  was  here,  in  a  manner,  surrounded 
by  the  Americans,  who  had  occupied  the  only  passes  by  which  a 
retreat  northward  could  be  effected,  and  who  pressed  upon  him  in 
his  position,  the  British  camp  being  within  reach  of  their  artillery 
Provisions  could  no  longer  be  procured,  and  the  supply  on  hand  waa 
nearly  expended.  Communications  were  therefore  opened  and  a 
capitulation  was  agreed  upon,  by  the  terms  of  which  the  whole 
British  army,  to  the  number  of  more  than  five  thousand  men  be- 
came prisoners-of-war. 

It  was  agreed  that  they  should  be  allowed  to  leave  the  country 
but  that  none  of  them  should  serve  further  in  the  war,  unless  made 
subjects  of  exchange  for  American  prisoners.  All  their  artillery 
arms,  and  munitions  of  war,  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Americans. 
Upon  various  pretexts,  a  compliance  with  the  agreement  for  the 
embarkation  of  these  prisoners,  was  delayed  and  evaded  by  congress. 
Burgoyne  was  permitted  to  sail  for  England,  but  his  army  was 
detained,  a  resolution  being  passed  that  no  further  action  should  be 
taken  upon  the  premises,  until  the  Saratoga  convention  should  be 
expressly  ratified  by  the  British  government,  and  a  notification  to 


THE   AMERICAN   REVOLUTION. 


288 


that  effect  be  forwarded  to  the  American  congress.  The  result  was, 
that  none  of  these  prisoners  obtained  their  liberty  except  by  regular 
exchange. 

The  forces  dispatched  by  Clinton,  from  New  York,  to  force  a 
passage  up  the  Hudson,  and  cooperate  with  Burgoyne,  although 
unable  to  effect  the  main  purpose  of  the  expedition,  did  much  mis- 
chief to  the  Americans.  Obstacles  to  navigation,  in  the  shape  of 
huge  chains,  sunken  impediments,  &c,,  were  successfully  overcome, 
and  the  forts  on  the  Highlands  were  stormed  or  abandoned.  All 
the  artillery  at  these  important  strongholds  became  prize  to  the 
enemy.  A  great  amount  of  damage  was  wantonly  inflicted  upon 
the  settlements  near  the  river.  Not  content  with  plunder,  the  in- 
vaders burned  and  destroyed  every  thing  ^v  thin  their  reach. 

We  will  now  revert  to  the  operations  of  the  main  continental 
army,  guided  by  Washington  in  person.  Towards  the  close  of 
August  (1777),  Admiral  Howe  entered  the  Chesapeake,  and  disem- 
barked the  entire  force  on  board  his  fleet  at  Elk  Ferry,  the  nearest 
available  landing  to  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  which  was  now  obvi- 
ously the  object  of  attack.  Upon  the  first  intimation  of  the  enemy's 
approach,  Washington  had  marched  to  intercept  his  advance,  and 
had  taken  up  his  quarters  at  Wilmington,  on  Brandywine  creek,  in 
the  direct  route  from  Elk  Ferry  to  Philadelphia.  He  had  collected 
a  force  of  fifteen  thousand  men ;  that  of  the  British  was  superior  in 
numbers,  and  in  far  better  condition  for  service. 

On  the  11th  of  September,  the  American  army,  having  taken  a 
new  position  on  the  left  bank  of  the  creek,  was  attacked  by  the 
enemy.  Cornwallis,  by  a  circuit,  and  by  passage  of  the  creek  a  con- 
siderable distance  up  the  stream,  succeeded  in  turning  the  American 
flank.  Sullivan's  division,  in  that  quarter,  was  driven  in,  and,  at 
the  same  time,  a  division,  under  Kniphausen,  crossed  the  sliallow 
river,  and  fell  upon  the  cent ral  division  of  Washington's  army.  The 
latter  was  defeated,  witli  a  loss  of  not  fur  from  twelve  hundred  men. 
That  of  the  enemy  was  reported  to  be  six  hundred,  A  retreat  was 
eflected  to  Chester,  and  thence,  passing  through  Philadelphia,  the 
army  marched  to  Germantown,  where  an  encampment  was  formed. 
In  the  action  on  the  Brandywine,  several  foreign  officers  distin- 
guished themselves.  La  Fayette  was  wounded  in  tlie  engage- 
ment. The  services  of  Count  Pulaski  were  rewarded  by  immediate 
promotion. 

On  the  16th,  Washington  crossed  the  Schuylkill,  and  endeavoured 


f 


liil 


I 


284 


THE  PEOPLE'S   BOOK  OF   HISTORY. 


to  check  the  advance  of  the  enemy.  A  violent  rain  storm  came  on 
just  as  the  armies  were  engaging,  by  which  the  arms  and  ammuni- 
tion of  the  Americans  were  rendered  unserviceable:  they,  therefore 
retreated,  and  en(Axmped  on  the  left  bank  of  the  river,  some  distance 
above  Philadelphia.  A  portion  of  the  army,  under  "Wayne,  endeav- 
oured to  gain  the  enemy's  rear;  but,  on  the  night  of  the  20th,  the 
position  of  its  encampment  became  known  to  the  British  commander, 
and  it  was  attacked  and  driven  off  with  heavy  loss. 

A  few  days  later,  Howe  crossed  the  Schuylkill  farther  down,  and 
entered  Philadelphia  without  opposition.  Congress,  having  extended 
and  enlarged  the  dictatorial  powers  confided  to  the  commander-in- 
chief,  and,  iiaving  passed  laws  rendering  it  a  capital  offence  for  resi- 
dents in  the  vicinity  of  towns  occupied  by  the  enemy  to  furnish 
them  with  provis^'ons,  Ac,  had  adjourned  to  Lancaster.  The  princi- 
pal British  camp  was  formed  at  Germantown. 

Communication  was  not  yet  opened  between  the  city  and  the  tide- 
waters of  the  bay,  strong  fortifications  and  obstructions  having  been 
planted  by  the  Americans  at  the  entrance  of  the  Schuylkill  from 
the  Delaware.  While  a  portion  of  the  enemy's  force  was  detached 
to  make  an  attempt  upon  these  works,  and  to  protect  the  transport- 
ation of  stores,  by  land,  from  Chester,  "Washington  undertook  to 
surprise  the  main  body  at  Germantown.  The  very  circumstances 
that  enabled  him  to  come  upon  the  enemy  unperceived,  proved  dis- 
astrous for  the  success  of  the  enterprise.  The  morning  of  the  4th 
of  October,  when  the  attack  was  made,  was  unusually  dark  and 
foggy.  The  American  troops,  after  a  long  and  toilsome  march,  fell 
upon  ,the  British  camp  about  sunrise.  All,  for  a  time,  was  confu- 
sion, in  which  the  assailants  gained  a  temporary  advantage.  The 
British  soon  rallied,  and  availed  themselves  of  the  protection  afforded 
by  the  buildings  to  form,  and  to  pour  a  heavy  fire  upon  their  oppo- 
nents. The  Americans  were  driven  off,  with  a  loss  of  more  than  a 
thousand  men ;  that  of  the  British  was  less  than  two-thirds  of  that 
number.  ^ " 

It  now  became  all  important  for  the  army  of  occupation  at  Phila- 
delphia, to  reduce  the  forts  by  which  it  was  cut  off  from  the  fleet  in 
the  Delaware.  The  first  attempt  was  made  upon  Fort  Mercer,  on 
Red  bank,  which  was  defended  by  troops  from  Rhode  Island,  under 
Greene.  The  storming  party  consisted  of  twelve  hundred  Hessians. 
led  by  Count  Donop.  A  complete  repulse,  with  the  loss  of  four 
hundred  of  the  assailants,  including  the  commanding  officer,  demon- 


THE    AMERICAN   REVOLUTION. 


285 


Ftnited  the  necessity  for  mere  deliberate  and  systematic  approaches. 
Batteries  were  erected  to  play  upon  Fort  Mifflin,  situated  upon  a 
low  mud-flat,  which  was  reduced,  after  a  brave  defence  of  several 
days.  The  ships-of-war  were  now  enabled  to  bring  their  guns  to 
bear  with  effect  upon  Fort  Mercer,  and  its  evacuation  soon  followed. 
Thus,  on  the  16th  of  November,  the  British  secured  complete  com- 
mand of  the  approaches  to  Philadelphia  by  water. 

Washington  soon  after  retired  with  his  army  to  a  strong  position 
at  Valley  Forge,  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Schuylkill,  twenty  miles 
above  Philadelphia.  Here  he  established  winter-quarters  for  the 
troops,  consisting  of  regularly  arranged  rows  of  cabins.  The  greatest 
destitution  and  misery  existed  in  the  army,  most  of  the  men  being 
ill  supplied  with  clothing — especially  shoes — and  provisions  were 
often  to  be  procured  only  by  forcible  seizure.  The  supply  was  very 
irregular,  and,  at  times,  the  condition  of  the  camp  fell  little  short 
of  actual  famine. 


DIFFICULTIES  OF  CONGRESS. — ARTICLES  OF  CONFEDERATION. 
— RECOMMENDATIONS  TO  THE  STATES. — INTRIGUES   AGAINST 
WASHINGTON. — TREATIES  WITH  FRANCE. — BRITISH  COM- 
MISSIONERS   IN    AMERICA.  —  EVACUATION   OF    PHILA- 
DELPHIA.—  BATTLE    OF    MONMOUTH ARRIVAL   OP 

A    FRENCH    FLEET. — ATTEMPT    ON    NEWPORT. — 
WINTER-QUARTERS.  —  MARAUDING     EXPEDI- 
TIONS.— DESTRUCTION    OF    WYOMING. 

It  were  difficult  to  conceive  a  more  embarrassing  position  than 
that  of  the  continental  congress  at  this  juncture.  The  army  was 
reduced  in  numbers,  dispirited,  discouraged,  and  in  a  condition  of 
physical  want  and  suffering.  The  immense  issue  of  paper  money, 
amounting  already  to  thirty  or  forty  millions,  had  necessarily  induced 
so  rapid  a  depreciation  in  its  value,  that  it  was  not  available  for 
purchases,  at  a  higher  rate  than  twenty-five  per  cent,  upon  its 
nominal  value ;  and  yet  there  appeared  no  resource  for  government, 
other  than  continued  issues.    liOans  could  be  effected  but  slowly, 


286 


THE  PEOPLE'S   BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


and  to  amounts  miserably  insufficient  for  the  exigencies  of  the  occa> 
sion.  The  numerous  laws  and  regulations  for  fixing  and  establishing 
the  prices  of  goods,  for  rendering  distinction  between  gold  and  con- 
tinental bills  a  penal  offence,  and  for  the  preventing  of  "forestalling 
and  engrossing,"  (viz:  the  buying  up  and  retention  of  necessaries 
on  speculation,)  were  exceedingly  difficult  to  enforce,  and  were 
generally  evaded,  or  made  a  handle  for  the  gratification  of  private 
enmity. 

Congress  had  already  submitted  a  series  of  "Articles  of  Confeder- 
ation "  to  the  separate  states,  which  were  subjects  of  long  and  vex- 
atious dispute;  a  great  hesitation  being  felt  at  the  relinquishment 
of  individual  sovereignty,  in  exchange  for  the  benefits  and  perma- 
nency of  a  centralized  government.  It  was  now  earnestly  recom- 
mended that  available  funds  should  be  raised  by  the  states,  resort 
being  had  for  this  purpose  to  direct  taxation,  to  meet  the  expenses 
of  the  coming  year ;  that  stringent  provisions — the  arbitrary  nature  of 
which  was  acknowledged  and  lamented — should  be  enforced  against 
forestallers  and  engrossers,  by  seizure  of  the  accumulated  property; 
to  be  paid  for  at  specified  rates  in  continental  money,  and  for  general 
regulation  of  trade;  and  that  the  property  of  absent  loyalists  be 
confiscated  for  public  purposes. 

The  series  of  disasters  which  had  befallen  the  main  army,  had 
given  rise  to  doubts  in  the  minds  of  many,  as  to  the  vigour  and 
capacity  of  the  commander-in-chief.  Occasion  was  taken  by  those 
among  the  officers  of  the  army  and  leading  politicians,  who  were 
jealous  of  his  ascendancy,  to  conspire  for  effecting  his  removal 
from  office.  This  movement  failed  to  affect  the  general  popularity 
of  Washington,  or  to  shake  the  confidence  of  congress  in  his  abilities 
or  patriotism. 

The  close  of  January,  1778,  was  marked  by  the  conclusion  of  two 
separate  treaties  with  France.  No  event  since  the  commencement 
of  the  war  had  given  such  strength  to  the  patriotic  cause  as  this. 
The  independence  of  the  states  was  acknowledged,  and  a  treaty  for 
trade  and  commerce  negotiated.  Stiil  more  important  were  the 
provisions  of  the  second  treaty,  which  contained  stipulations  for 
mutual  defence,  in  anticipation  of  the  course  which  England,  if  con- 
sistent in  her  plans,  must  necessarily  adopt. 

News  of  the  negotiation  of  these  treaties,  was  brought  over  to 
America  in  the  spring,  about  the  same  time  that  intelligence  was 
transmitted  of  a  willingness  on  the  part  of  the  British  government 


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THK  AMEKICAN   BEVuLUTIOS 


t87 


to  eflfect  a  reconciliation  with  the  colonies,  by  ti  renuiiciu  n  of 
all  claims  to  impose  taxes,  &c.  The  three  coni!  Hioners,  deputed 
to  conduct  ndgotiatious  for  this  purpose,  aftei  a  van.  adu/ms  to 
congress,  in  which  the  most  liberal  offers  were  made  in  behalf  of 
the  crown,  resorted  to  every  species  of  intrigue  to  bring  about  their 
ends.  Manifestoes,  calculated  to  excite  prejudice  against  the  French, 
appeals  to  the  separate  states,  slurs  upon  the  motives  and  principles 
of  the  lending  patriots,  and  even  the  more  reprehensible  course  of 
attempting  the  integrity  of  individuals  by  the  offer  of  bribes;  all 
resulted  in  signal  failure.  The  treaties  were  ratified  by  congress, 
and  no  proposal  for  any  thing  short  of  absolute  independence  was 
longer  entertained. 

In  parliament  it  was  now  openly  advocated  that  submission  to 
the  necessities  of  the  case,  by  an  acknowledgment  of  American  inde- 
pendence, would  only  be  a  timely  anticipation  of  an  inevitable  result 
National  pride,  and  a  jealousy  of  French  interference  prevailed, 
however,  against  every  argument  founded  upon  policy  or  right: 
the  British  minister  was  recalled  from  Paris,  and  the  attention  of 
government  was  devoted  to  the  detail  of  warlike  operations.  '  Sir 
William  Howe,  recalled  at  his  own  request,  was  superseded  in  the 
chief  command  by  Sir  Henry  Clinton.  Orders  were  given  for  an 
abandonment  of  the  positions  at  and  near  Philadelphia,  and  a  con- 
centration of  forces  at  New  York. 

The  evacuation  of  Philadelphia  was  effected  on  the  18th  of  June, 
the  principal  stores  and  baggage  of  the  army  having  been  for- 
warded to  New  York  by  sea.  The  American  forces  were  immedi- 
ately put  in  motion,  to  harass  the  enemy  in  the  rear,  and  to  watch 
for  a  favourable  opportunity  for  a  general  engagement.  Such  an 
occasion  presented  itself,  in  the  estimation  of  Washington,  on  the 
28th,  the  enemy  being  encamped  near  Monmouth  court-house.  At 
the  council  in  which  an  attack  was  decided  upon,  General  Lee,  then 
second  in  command,  had  opposed  the  plan.  Ue  was  now  intrusted 
with  the  command  of  the  advance. 

Early  in  the  morning,  upon  the  fiist  movement  of  the  British, 
who  were  about  to  take  up  their  line  of  march  towards  New  York, 
Lee  received  orders  from  his  superior  to  open  the  attack.  Coming 
up  with  the  main  army,  Washington  met  the  advance  in  full 
retreat,  and  pressed  upon  by  the  enemy.  In  the  heat  of  the  moment, 
he  addressed  Lee  with  terms  of  reproach,  which  rankled  in  the 
remembrance  of  that  proud  anu  eccentric  officer,  but  which  did  not 
Vol.  IV.— 47 


283 


TIIK   PEOPLE'S    BOOK   OF   HISTORY. 


prevent  him  from  lending  his  utmoBt  exertion«,  at  the  time,  in  car- 
rying out  the  orders  of  the  commander-in-chief 

During  the  remainder  of  the  action,  which  lasted  until  nightfall, 
neither  party  obtained  any  decisive  advantage.  The  British  huh- 
tained  the  heavier  loss,  their  killed  and  wounded  amounting  j 
about  three  hundred  men;  that  of  the  Americans,  probably,  fell 
short  of  two  hundred.  The  former  continued  their  retreat  during 
the  night,  and  pushed  on  unmolested  to  the  Navesink  highlands, 
where  they  occupied  an  unassailable  position.  It  does  not  ap{)ear 
that  General  Lee  was  guilty  of  any  dereliction  from  duty  in  this 
engagement:  his  retreat,  at  the  commencement,  was  before  a  supe- 
rior force,  the  British  having  assumed  an  offensive  attitude  with 
remarkable  promptitude  mid  good  order,  and  his  own  position  being 
unfavourable  from  the  nature  of  the  ground.  In  consequence  of 
two  disrespectful  letters,  subsequently  written  to  Washington,  re- 
specting the  affair,  as  well  as  for  alleged  disobedience  of  orders 
and  an  unnecessary  retreat,  he  was  tried  by  a  court-martial,  and 
suspended  from  command  for  the  term  of  one  year.  He  t')ok  no 
further  part  in  the  war. 

Early  in  July,  a  powerful  French  fleet,  commanded  by  Count 
D'Estaing,  arrived  on  the  coast,  bringing  over  the  French  ambassa- 
dor, Gerard,  and  about  four  thousand  troops.  "Washington's  army 
had,  by  this  time,  moved  towards  the  Hudson,  and,  to  cooperate 
with  the  French  fleet  in  a  proposed  attack  upon  New  York,  now 
crossed  over  to  White  Plains.  The  British  forces  had  removed 
from  Navesink  to  the  city. 

The  larger  French  men-of-war,  from  their  great  draught  of  water, 
could  not  be  safely  taken  into  New  York  harbour,  and  it  was 
determined  to  commence  operations  by  an  attempt  at  the  recovery 
of  Newport,  still  in  the  possession  of  the  British,  and  protected  by 
a  force  of  six  thousand  men.  A  violent  storm  disconcerted  the 
arrangements  for  a  joint  attack  by  land  and  sea.  D'Estaing,  in 
endeavouring  to  engage  the  English  fleet,  suffered  so  much  injury 
in  his  shipping,  that  he  was  compelled  to  sail  for  Boston  to  repair 
damages.  The  American  forces,  under  Sullivan,  which  had  landed 
on  Rhode  Island,  and  advanced  towards  Newport,  were  compelled 
to  abandon  the  attempt  In  this  retreat,  they  were  puisued  and 
attacked  by  the  enemy,  whom  they  repulsed,  not  without  consider- 
able loss  on  both  sides. 

The  remaining  events  of  the  year,  although  replete  with  local 


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interest, 
the  war. 
the  Wesi 
ter-quart< 
of  Connei 
The  head 
At  no 
relentless 
summer  i 
British  ti 
cruelty, 
malice  bj 
move.    I 
and  regul 
of  Colone 
New  Yor 
been  usuj 
excursion 
no  small  ] 
north- wes 
which  he 
every  tale 
learn,  Brjj 
white  as 
the  army] 
At  Wj 
principal! 
Indians, 
red  in  coil 
between 
by  bitter| 
tbeir  esta 
and  Pen  I 
sion  for 
Upon 
enactmer 
against  a| 
treason 


THE   AMERICAN   REVOLUTION. 


289 


interest,  were  of  little  importance,  as  connected  with  the  result  of 
the  war.  The  French  fleet,  on  the  approach  of  winter,  sailed  for 
the  West  Indies,  and  the  main  continental  army  went  into  win- 
ter-quarters for  the  season,  in  New  Jersey  and  the  western  portion 
of  Connecticut,  their  line  extending  across  the  Hudson  at  West  Point. 
The  head-quarters  of  the  commander-in-chief  was  at  Middlebrook. 

At  no  period  of  the  war  were  evidences  given  of  more  bitter  and 
relentless  enmity  between  the  patriots  and  loyalists,  than  during  the 
summer  and  autumn  of  1778.     The  predatory  excursions  of  the 
British  troops  were   Uso  marked  by  unusual  ferocity  and  needless 
cruelty.     Not  content  with  plunder,  they  generally  glutted  their 
malice  by  wanton  destruction  of  all  that  they  were  unable  to  re- 
move.   In  the  month  of  July,  a  party  of  about  three  hundred  tories 
and  regulars,  with  a  still  larger  number  of  Indians,  under  command 
of  Colonel  John  Butler,  marched  into  Pennsylvania  from  western 
New  York,  and  ravaged  the  beautiful  valley  of  Wyoming.    It  has 
been  usually  reported  that  Josepli  Brant  headed  the  Indians  in  this 
excursion.     This  seems  to  be  an  error:  it  is  true,  that  throughout 
no  small  portion  of  the  war,  he  and  his  warriors  were  a  terror  to  the 
north-western  frontier.     He  was  faithful   to  the  last  to  the  cause 
which  he  had  espoused,  and  his  name  came  to  be  coupled  with 
every  tale  of  Indian  violence  and  outrage.     From  all  that  we  can 
learn,  Brant  was  of  a  more  humane  disposition  than  many  of  his 
white  associates,  even  among  those  who  held  high  positions  in 
the  army. 

At  Wyoming,  although  the  destruction  of  the  settlement  was 
principally  eflfected  by  the  ferocious  and  uncontrollable  horde  of 
Indians,  the  most  revolting  instances  of  blood-thirsty  cruelty  occur- 
red in  combat  between  the  whites.  In  addition  to  the  party  strife 
between  whig  and  tory,  this  community  had  been  long  distracted 
by  bitter  enmity  between  two  distinct  classes  of  settlers,  holding 
tbeir  estates,  respectively,  under  the  conflicting  grants  of  Connecticut 
and  Pennsylvania.  Opportunity  was  taken  at  the  time  of  this  inva- 
sion for  the  revenge  of  old  family  and  clannish  quarrels. 

Upon  a  rgoccupation  of  Philadelphia,  the  severe  and  sanguinary 
enactments  against  those  who  should  assist  the  enemy,  were  enforced 
against  some  of  the  prominent  tories.  Two  Quakers,  convicted  of 
treason  under  the  laws  lately  enacted,  were  executed. 


I 


4 


290 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTUKY. 


•    .  .:      CH  APTEE   X?nL      ^v  ^  _■  - 

INTASION   OP  GEORGIA. — OCCUPATION   OP  SAfANNAh. — BRITISH 
DIVISION    UNDER    PREVOST.  —  LINCOLN   IN  COMMAND  AT  THE 
SOUTH.  —  DEPEAT  OP   ASHE  AT   BRIAR  CREEK. — ATTACK 
ON   CHARLESTON. — SULLIVAN'S  CAMPAIGN   AGAINST  THE 
IROUUOIS.  —  NAVAL  OPERATIONS  OP  PRANCE  AND  ENG- 
LAND.—  ATTEMPT   AT   A   RECOVERY   OP  SAVANNAH. 
—  FURTHER  NAVAL  PROCEEDINGS:   PAUL  JONES. 
— CONDITION    OP    THE    AMERICAN    ARMY. 


Upon  the  departure  of  D'Estaing  for  the  West  Indies,  the  Eng 
lish  fleet,  under  Admiral  Byron,  immediately  made  sail  in  pursuit 
It  was  resolved,  at  the  same  time,  to  open  a  winter  campaign  in  a 
new  quarter,  and  a  large  force  of  English  and  German  troops,  under 
command  of  Colonel  Campbell,  was  embarked  at  New  York  for  an 
expedition  against  Georgia. 

The  continental  forces  stationed  at  Savannah,  amounting  to  less 
than  a  thousand  men,  were  under  command  of  the  American  General 
Howe.  Upon  the  approach  of  Campbell,  who  arrived  on  the  coast 
at  the  close  of  December,  1778,  a  defensible  position  was  taken  for 
the  purpose  of  intercepting  his  advance.  The  British,  in  greatly 
superior  force,  were  successful  in  turning  the  American  flank.  A 
negro  piloted  one  detachment  through  a  swamp,  between  which  and 
the  river  the  continental  army  was  stationed.  In  an  engagement 
which  ensued,  the  Americans  were  completely  routed ;  five  or  six 
hundred  were  taken  prisoner?  or  killed.  The  British  loss  wm 
trifling,  and  their  success  was  rewarded  by  an  immediate  occupation 
of  Savannah. 

Campbell  was  soon  joined  by  General  Prevost,  who,  in  accord- 
ance with  the  plan  of  the  southern  campaign,  had  been  ordered  U, 
march  from  his  quarters  in  Florida,  to  assume  command  iii  Georgia, 
and  cookie  rate  with  the  troops  from  New  York.  Georgia  thus  fell 
into  the  hands  of  the  British. 

At  this  period.  General  Lincoln,  by  whom  Howe  had  been  super- 
seded in  command,  arrived  in  South  Carolinn,  and  took  command 
of  the  continental  army  at  the  south.  The  regular  forces  under  his 
command,  together  with  militia  from  North  Carolina,  were  sufficient 


THE  AMERICAN  REVOLUTION. 


291 


to  hold  the  enemy  in  check,  and  prevent  a  passage  of  the  Savannah. 
There  existed,  however,  an  uninterrupted  communication  between 
the  British  head-quarters  and  the  interior,  where  a  strong  tory 
interest  predominated,  and  where  the  Indian  tribes  were  generally 
favourable  to  the  royal  cause. 

Lincoln  commenced  active  operations  by  detaching  fifteen  hun- 
dred men,  under  General  Ashe,  to  occupy  an  intermediate  position, 
and  intercept  this  communication.  Ashe  crossed  the  river  near 
Augusta,  from  which  the  British  retired  towards  the  capital,  and 
passing  down  the  right  bank,  posted  his  forces  on  Briar  creek,  in 
the  present  county  of  Scriven. 

In  this  position,  the  flank  of  the  American  army  was  again  suc- 
cessfully turned  by  the  enemy.  Prevost  made  a  distant,  but  rapid 
circuit,  and  falling  upon  the  rear,  gained  a  complete  victory.  A 
great  number  of  the  Americans  were  killed  or  taken  prisoners,  and 
the  remainder  were  dispersed. 

Lincoln's  head-quarters  were  at  Purisburg,  about  fifteen  miles 
above  Savannah,  on  the  Carolina  side  of  the  river.  In  the  month 
of  April,  1779,  leaving  a  portion  of  the  militia  at  this  post,  he 
marched  up  the  river,  with  the  intention  of  effecting  a  passage,  and 
making  a  descent  on  the  British  encampments.  While  on  the  route, 
he  received  intelligence  that  Prevost  had  taken  the  opportunity  to 
cross  the  river,  and  was  in  full  march  upon  Charleston.  Lincoln 
immediately  hurried  to  its  defence,  and  arrived  in  time  to  save  the 
city.  The  British  army  retreated,  carrying  away  a  large  amount 
of  plunder,  gathered  on  the  march,  and  taking  with  them  an  im- 
mense number  of  slaves,  seized  upon  the  coast  plantations.  The 
concluding  events  of  the  campaign  took  place  in  the  month  of  June, 
by  which  time  the  season  was  unfit  for  further  military  operations. 

During  the  preceding  month  of  May,  the  coast  of  Virginia,  and 
all  districts  easily  accessible  by  the  larger  rivers,  were  ravaged  by 
a  detachment  of  between  two  and  three  thousand  men,  sent  out  by 
Clinton  from  New  York.  There  was  no  military  force  to  oppose 
these  marauders,  and,  with  scarce  a  show  of  resistance,  they  carried 
out  the  general  orders  to  burn  and  destroy  the  property  of  the  rebel- 
lious colonists.  Not  only  vessels  belonging  to  the  confederacy,  but 
a  fleet  of  merchant  vessels  were  burned  or  sunk  in  the  rivers  and 
bay.  A  great  amount  of  plunder  was  seized  and  carried  off,  but  its 
value  bore  no  proportion  to  that  of  the  property  destroyed. 

The  most  noticeable  military  operations  of  the  summer,  were  the 


292 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


expedition  against  the  Iroquois,  and  the  contests  for  the  possession 
of  the  American  fortifications  at  Verplank's  Point  and  Stony  Point, 
on  the  Hudson.  Much  damage  was  done  by  a  marauding  expedition 
down  Long  Island  Sound,  led  by  General  Tryon.  On  the  north- 
eastern coast,  the  Americans  also  met  with  heavy  loss  in  an  unsuc- 
cessful expedition  against  a  military  post  of  the  enemy  on  the 
Penobscot. 

The  Indian  campaign  of  the  season  was  conducted  by  General 
Sullivan.  With  a  force  of  five  thousand  men,  concentrated  at  Tioga, 
he  entered  the  territory  of  the  Six  Nations.  The  Indians,  under 
Brant,  assisted  by  a  body  of  tories,  commanded  by  the  Butlers  and 
by  Sir  John  and  Guy  Johnson,  made  a  strong  stand  at  Newtown, 
on  the  bank  of  the  Chemung  river,  but  their  position  was  not  tena- 
ble against  a  force  so  superior  as  that  now  brought  to  bear  upon 
them.  No  further  resistance  was  offered  to  the  advance  of  the  in- 
vaders, and  the  month  of  September  was  occupied  in  the  destruction 
of  Indian  villages  and  harvests. 

"These  Indian  tribes  had  made  no  little  advance  in  the  arts  of 
civilization.  The  Mohawks  had  mostly  fled  to  Canada  in  the  early 
times  of  the  revolution,  but  others  of  the  Iroquois,  particularly  the 
Cayugas  and  Senecas,  had  continued  to  cultivate  their  fields  and 
maintain  possession  of  the  homes  of  their  forefathers.  Immense 
orchards  of  apple  and  other  fruit  trees  were  growing  luxuriantly 
around  the  habitations,  but  all  fell  beneath  the  axe  of  the  destroyers. 
The  movement  of  so  large  a  body  of  troops  was  necessarily  slow, 
and,  as  no  precautions  were  taken  to  conceal  their  operations,  the 
Indians  were  every  where  enabled  to  escape  to  the  woods.  It  must 
have  been  with  feelings  of  the  bitterest  rage  and  despair  that  they 
saw  the  labour  of  so  many  years  rendered  useless,  and  thought  of 
the  coming  winter,  which  must  overtake  them,  a  wandering  and 
destitute  people,  who  must  perish,  or  rely  for  aid  upon  their  Can- 
adian allies."* 

The  French  and  English  fleets,  under  D'Estaing  and  Byron,  were 
occupied  during  the  winter,  spring,  and  summer  of  this  year,  at  the 
West  Indies,  and  in  the  convoy  of  fleets  of  merchant  vessels,  bound 
homeward  from  the  islands  belonging  to  these  nations  respect- 
ively. The  most  important  naval  engagement  of  this  period, 
was  upon  the  occasion  of  the  capture  of  the  island  of  Grenada, 
by  D'Estaing,  in  the  month  of  July.     In  this  action,  the  British 

*  The  Iroquois. — "  Indian  Races  of  Air    ica." 


a  m( 
upor 
Lon^ 
tion( 
holdi 
inatt( 


THE   AMEKICAN    REVOLUTION. 


293 


sustained  a  very  heavy  loss,  both  in  men  and  in  damage  done  to 
their  ships.     .-. 

D'Estaing  appeared  on  the  coast  of  Georgia  in  the  month  follow- 
ing, with  the  design  of  cooperating  with  the  continental  forces  in  an 
effort  to  recover  the  territory  then  in  occupation  of  the  enemy. 
Siege  was  laid  to  Savannah  by  the  French  and  American  forces,  in 
September,  and  was  continued  until  October  9th,  when  an  attempt 
was  made  to  storm  the  British  outworks,  and  take  the  town  by 
assault.  A  most  gallant  defence  was  made,  and  the  assailants  were 
driven  oif  with  the  loss  of  more  than  a  thousand  men.  This  disas- 
trous failure  is  attributed  to  the  impatience  and  impetuosity  of  the 
French  admiral,  who  had  become  weary  of  the  protracted  operations 
of  a  regular  siege.  He  immediately  afterwards  returned  to  the 
West  Indies. 

Notwithstanding  the  powerful  aid  already  furnished  by  France, 
and  the  expected  assistance  of  Spain — that  nation,  during  the  sum- 
mer, having  virtually  declared  war  against  England — the  affairs  of  the 
United  States  were,  at  this  period,  far  from  prosperous.  The 
finances  of  the  confederacy  were  in  a  most  ruinous  condition ;  con- 
tinental paper  money  was  nearly  worthless,  from  the  enormous  issue, 
already  amounting  to  more  than  one  hundred  and  fifty  millions, 
from  the  distant  period  when  payment  was  provided  for,  and 
from  the  great  uncertainty  of  any  future  redemption.  The  main 
army,  suffering  from  insufficient  and  irregular  supplies,  and  unoccu- 
pied in  any  important  movement,  was  reduced  in  numbers,  and 
dispirited  by  a  series  of  reverses.  Kecruits  were  obtained  with 
difficulty,  and,  to  maintain  a  respectable  force,  resort  was  necessa- 
rily had  to  a  draught  upon  the  militia.  Throughout  the  year, 
neither  Washington  nor  the  British  commander-in-chief  considered 
it  advisable  to  measure  the  strength  of  their  respective  forces  in  any 
general  engagement. 

At  sea,  operations  against  England  were  mostly  conducted  by  the 
fleets  of  France  and  Spain.  The  small  naval  force  of  the  states  had 
little  opportunity  for  any  effective  service.  Privateers  were  still  in 
a  measure  successful,  and  it  was  jn  revenge  for  injuries  committed 
upon  British  commerce  by  this  class  of  vessels,  that  the  seaports  on 
Long  Island  Sound  were  plundered  and  burned,  as  before  men- 
tioned. The  daring  achievements  of  John  Paul  Jones,  a  Scotchman, 
holding  a  commission  from  congress  as  a  naval  commander,  were 
matters  of  wide  celebrity.     In  September,  1779,  being  in  command 


'V^:    .i.l 


294 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


of  a  French  and  American  squadron,  fitted  out  from  France,  he  fell 
in  with  a  British  fleet  of  merchant  vessels,  under  convoy  of  two 
vessels  of  war.  The  larger  of  these,  a  frigate  of  forty-four  guns, 
named  the  Serapis,  engaged  the  Bonne  Homme  Richard,  com- 
manded by  Jones,  and  carrying  forty-two  guns. 

The  combat  was  conducted,  for  the  most  part,  while  the  ships 
were  lashed  together,  each  pouring  in  a  heavy  fire  and  making  des- 
perate attempts  to  carry  the  enemy  by  boarding.  Both  vessels 
repeat-edly  took  fire  during  the  engagement,  and,  when  the  Serapis 
finally  btruck,  tho  Bonne  Homme  Richard  was  in  a  sinking  condi- 
tion, and  was  presently  abandoned. 

The  American  army — quartered  for  the  winter  near  West  Point, 
on  the  Hudson,  and  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Morristown,  New 
Jersey — was  with  great  difficulty  furnished  with  provisions,  and  was 
poorly  prepared  to  encounter  the  inclemencies  of  the  season,  much 
less  to  operate  ugainst  troops  superior  in  numbers  and  discipline, 
and  beti^r  provided  with  needful  supplies  and  munitions  of  war. 


■v 


CTTAPTTTP     'w'T'T* 


•  ill-- 


SHOE    OF  CHARLESTON:    SURRENDER    OF    THE    OITT. —  SOUTH 
CAROLINA    OCCUPIED    BY    THE  BRITISH. — TARLETON'S  LE- 
GION:   HIS    VICTORY    AT    WAXHAW8.  —  C0RNWALLI8    IN 
COMMAND.  —  DEFEAT  OF   THE   AMERICANS  AT  CAMDEN. — 
0UER5LLA  OPERATIONS  OF  SUMPTER  AND  MARION. — 
INFAPION     OF     NORTH     CAROLINA. — FERGUSON'S 
DEFEAT    AT    UNO'S    MOUNTAIN. 

The  year  1780  was,  almost  throughout,  a  season  of  distress, 
defeat  and  disaster,  for  the  continental  armies.  The  principal 
theatre  of  action  was  at  the  south.  In  the  month  of  February, 
General  Clinton,  with  a  large  force  brought  from  New  York  in 
December,  sailed  from  Savannah,  upon  an  expedition  against 
Charleston.  Blockading  the  harbour  with  his  fleet,  he  landed  his 
troops  on  the  island  of  St.  John's,  and  prepared  to  lay  siege  to 
the  city. 

General  Lincoln,  in  concert  with  Governor  Rutledge,  made  every 


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i 


THE  AMERICAN   REVOLUTION. 


295 


exertion  to  increase  the  garrison,  and  to  erect  defensive  works, 
llutledge,  in  pursuance  of  extensive  discretionary  powers  conferred 
upon  him  by  the  legislature,  compelled  the  service  of  a  great  num- 
ber of  negro  slaves  for  this  purpose.  The  forces  finally  concentrated 
at  Charleston  amounted  to  about  seven  thousand,  but  more  than 
half  of  these  were  inhabitants  of  the  city,  and  a  considerable  portion 
of  the  remainder  were  militia  from  North  Carolina. 

In  the  month  of  April,  Clinton's  fleet  passed  Fort  Moultrie,  on 
Sullivan's  island,  without  material  damage,  and  entered  the  har- 
bour. "Works  were  constructed  for  the  prosecution  of  the  siege  by 
regular  military  approaches;  communication  from  the  north  was  cut 
off  by  a  detachment  of  British  troops;  Fort  Moultrie  was  taken  by 
the  enemy;  and  before  the  middle  of  May,  it  was  plain  that  the  city 
was  no  longer  tenable.  A  capitulation  was  proposed  and  accepted : 
the  militia  were  to  return  home  upon  parole;  the  regular  conti- 
nental soldiers  to  become  prisoners  of  war;  and  the  British  were 
to  have  possession  of  the  city,  the  public  stores,  &c. 

Clinton  did  not  fail  to  follow  up  his  advantage,  by  taking  secure 
positions  for  his  troops  at  the  more  important  posts  throughout  the 
state.  His  moat  efficient  force  for  carrying  on  the  skirmishing  and 
irregular  warfare  which  attended  the  occupation  of  South  Carolina, 
was  a  legion  of  cavalry,  under  command  of  Colonel  Tarleton,  an 
officer  of  great  energy  and  ability. 

During  the  siege,  this  corps  defeated  two  regiments  of  the  Ameri- 
can forces,  at  Monk's  Corner,  thirty  miles  from  Charleston,  and, 
about  the  close  of  the  month  following,  the  like  success  attended  an 
attack  upon  Buford's  regiment,  from  Virginia.  The  victory  was 
gained  at  Waxhaws,  in  the  northern  part  of  the  state,  whither 
Tarleton  had  hastened  by  a  forced  march.  The  Americans  were 
completely  routed,  and  a  bloody  massacre  ensued.  No  quarter  was 
given,  and  more  than  three  hundred  were  killed  or  taken  prisoners, 
while  the  assailants  lost  but  eighteen  men. 

Clinton  resorted  to  violent  measures  for  the  maintenance  of  British 
rule  in  South  Carolina.  Administration  of  the  oath  of  allegiance  to 
malcontents,  rendered  compulsory  by  confiscations  and  other  pun- 
ishments, and  a  careful  organization  of  the  tories,  gave  a  general 
aspect  of  quiet  submission  to  the  country.  Resistance  was  out  of 
the  question,  but  the  patriotic  portion  of  the  inhabitants  looked 
anxiously  for  promised  aid  from  the  north. 

Regiments  from  Delaware  and  Maryland,  led  by  Baron  De  Kalb, 


296 


THE   PEOPLE'S   BOOK   OF   HISTOBY. 


were  on  march  for  the  scene  of  action,  but  their  progress  was  slow 
on  account  of  difficulty  in  procuring  provisions.  In  the  month  of 
July,  they  were  reinforced  by  General  Gates,  to  whom  the  chief 
command  at  the  south  had  recently  been  intrusted.  A  Virginia 
regiment,  the  only  remaining  continental  force  in  that  quarter, 
effected  a  junction  with  the  army,  which  now  amounted  to  five  or 
six  thousand  men.  In  the  month  of  August,  a  most  unfortunate 
season  for  a  southern  campaign.  Gates  reached  Clermont,  near  Cam- 
den, S.  C,  where  he  encamped  on  the  14th. 

Cornwallis  was,  at  this  period,  in  command  of  the  British  forces 
at  the  south,  Clinton  having  returned  to  New  York.  Such  troops 
as  he  could  raise  to  oppose  the  advance  of  Gates,  were  encamped 
at  Camden. 

A  simultaneous  attempt  at  a  surprise,  on  the  part  of  both  armies, 
led  to  an  unexpected  night  encounter.  After  some  unimportant 
skirmishing,  the  respective  leaders  occupied  themselves  in  prepara- 
tions for  a  decisive  battle.  The  fighting  rScommenced  at  day -break: 
the  British,  although  outnumbered  in  the  ratio  of  about  two  to  one, 
were  completely  victorious.  The  American  militia  fled  at  the  first 
charge,  but  the  regular  forces,  under  De  Kalb,  fought  bravely,  until 
the  fall  of  their  leader.  Nearly  two  thousand  of  the  Americans  were 
killed  or  taken  prisoners,  during  the  engagement,  or  in  their  dis- 
astrous and  confused  retreat.  The  enemy  lost  but  a  little  over  three 
hundred  men.    ' 

A  few  days  subsequent  to  this  battle,  a  body  of  patriots,  raised 
and  commanded  by  Colonel  Sumpter,  which  had  done  much  damage 
to  the  British  outposts,  by  an  irregular  warfare,  was  attac^:ed  by 
Tarleton  and  his  legion,  some  distance  farther  up  the  Catawba. 
Sumpter's  forces  were  surprised  and  utterly  routed ;  a  number  of 
British  prisoners  were  set  at  liberty,  and  four  or  five  hundred  of  the 
Americans  were  killed,  or  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy. 

No  course  was  now  left;  to  the  patriots  but  submission,  or  the  life 
of  outlaws.  A  number  of  prisoners,  convicted  of  treason  in  having 
borne  arms  against  the  king,  after  professing  allegiance,  or  accepting 
British  protection,  were  executed,  by  order  of  the  Br  tish  com- 
mander. Those  who,  not  being  implicated  in  the  open  hostilities, 
had  favoured  the  patriotic  cause,  were  punished  by  seizure  of  their 
property  for  the  use  of  the  army.  The  few  who  still  maintained  a 
hostile  attitude,  were  obliged  to  resort,  for  safety,  to  forests  and 
marshes  inaccessible  to  any  but  those  familiar  with  the  country. 


tin); 

the 

reti 

feat 

earll 


THE   AMERICAN   REVOLUTION. 


297 


Siiuipter,  notwithstanding  hia  defeat,  had  again  collected  a  band  of 
followers,  and  established  himself  in  the  mountainous  inland  coun- 
try, whence  he  made  incursions  upon  the  enemy. 

General  Marion,  who  had  held  a  continental  commission,  as  colo- 
nel, did  distinguished  service  in  this  species  of  warfare.  His  haunta 
were  the  swamps  of  the  Lower  Podee ;  and  such  was  the  secarity 
of  his  place  of  retreat,  and  the  celerity  of  his  movements,  that  his 
plans  could  never  bo  anticipated.  He  would  suddenly  appear,  at 
night,  with  his  band  of  rough  and  rudely-armed  horsemon,  in  the 
midst  of  a  British  encampment,  and  before  the  alarm  was  fairly 
given,  would  be  beyond  the  reach  of  pursuit,  having  accomplished 
the  purpose  of  his  incursion — whether  it  were  the  release  of  prison- 
ers or  the  collection  of  booty. 

The  tide  of  British  successes  began  to  turn  in  the  month  of  Octo- 
ber. Cornwallis  had  made  extensive  preparations  for  an  inv&oion 
of  North  Carolina;  Major  Ferguson,  with  a  considerable  body  of 
troops,  effected  a  junction  with  the  tories  in  the  western  portion  of 
that  state.  A  superior  force  of  militia  and  volunteers,  including 
many  from  Virginia,  was  collected  by  the  patriots  of  that  vicinity  to 
oppose  the  invasion.  Retreating  hastily  before  their  advance,  Fer- 
guson took  a  position  on  King's  mountain,  Rt  the  border  of  South 
Carolina. 

An  attack  was  made  by  the  Americans,  in  three  columns,  from 
opposite  quarters,  notwithstanding  repeated  repulses,  they  returned 
again  and  again  to  the  charge;  and,  finally,  Ferguson  having  fallen, 
with  a  great  num'jer  of  his  men,  the  remainder,  numbering  about 
eight  hundred,  surrendered  at  discretion.  The  victors  immediately 
gratified  a  spirit  of  retaliation  for  the  severity  of  the  English,  by  put- 
ting to  death  a  number  of  particularly  obnoxious  tories,  found  among 
the  prisoners.  Cornwallis,  who  had  already  entered  North  Carolina, 
retreated  southward  upon  receiving  intelligence  of  Ferguson's  de- 
feat Large  reinforcements  from  New  York  arrived  in  Charleston 
early  in  the  winter. 


if 
i  1 


298 


THE  PXOPLK'8  BOOK  OF  RISTORT. 


,1 


CnAPTV'R     TT 


NORTIiBRN  0PKRATI0N8. —  8PRIN0PIELD  BURNED.  —  ARRIVAL 

OF  THE   FRENCH   FLEET   AND   FORCES     BLOCKADE  AT  NEW- 

POH:.  —  TREASON   OF   ARNOLD. — TRIAL   AND    EXECUTION 

OF   MaJOR  ANDrI — CAUSES   OF   ARNOLD'S   DEFECTION. 

—  INDIAN    RAVAGES:    INVASION    OF    THE    MOHAWK 

1    VALLEY    BY    JOHNSON    AND    BRANT.  '■'   '■'■    ■ 


A.1  the  north,  little  was  effected  by  either  army  during  the  spring 
and  summer  of  1780.  The  British,  from  New  York,  made  two 
incursions  into  New  Jersey,  in  the  month  of  June.  Upon  the  first 
of  these  occasions  nothing  was  accomplished,  bat  upon  the  second, 
the  village  of  Springfield,  garrisoned  by  a  continental  force,  under 
Greene,  was  destroyed.  The  main  American  army  remained  in  the 
vicinity  of  its  previous  winter-quarters,  occupied  only  in  opposing 
a  check  to  the  marauding  expeditions  of  the  enemy.  Such  was  the 
destitution  at  the  camp,  that  some  of  the  troops  were  driven  to  open 
expressions  of  mutiny. 

Great  expectations  were  formed  upon  the  reported  approach  of  a 
French  fleet  and  army;  which  arrived  in  the  month  of  July,  at  New- 
port, then  abandoned  by  the  British.  Six  thousand  troops,  under 
Count  Rochambeau,  were  brought  over,  and  preparations  were  made 
by  Washington  for  active  operations  against  New  York.  Unfortu- 
nately, the  British,  having  received  accessions  to  the  naval  force  on 
the  coast,  were  enabled  to  blockade  the  French  fleet  in  the  harboui 
of  Newport  The  whole  army  of  auxiliaries,  together  with  a  body 
of  American  militia,  was,  therefore,  kept  idle,  being  necessarily 
employed  m  defence  of  the  shipping  in  harbour. 

Between  the  lines  of  the  British  and  Continental  armies,  above 
New  York,  an  intervening  space,  occupied  by  neither,  formed  a 
convenient  resort  for  lawless  depredators,  who  took  advantage  of 
the  distracted  state  of  affairs,  for  purposes  of  private  plunder.  To 
cut  off  the  supply  of  provisions  from  the  British  army,  cattle  were 
made  liable  to  seizure,  upon  the  road  to  New  York,  within  certain 
limits,  in  this  debatable  ground,  and  arrests  of  suspicious  charac- 
ters were  permitted  and  encouraged. 

On  the  2Sd  of  September,  three  New  York  militia-men,  named 


h 

h 
o 

k 

^ 


J' 


>  m 


t-      Vi 


THE  AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 


299 


Paulding,  Williams,  and  Van  Wert,  were  watching  the  road  near 
Tarrytown,  from  a  place  of  concealment.  They  stopped  a  solitary 
horseman,  who,  supposing  them  to  be  of  his  own  party,  announced 
himself  as  a  British  officer.  Discovering  them  to  be  Americans,  he 
made  large  offers  of  reward  if  he  might  be  allowed  to  pass.  These 
were  refused;  and,  upon  searching  his  person,  papers  were  found 
concealed  in  his  boots.  He  was  carried  by  his  captors  before  the 
American  Colonel  Jamison.  The  papers  secured  were  found  to  con- 
tain plans  of  the  fortifications  at  West  Point,  with  the  numbers  of 
the  garrison,  and  descriptions  of  the  defences.         ,-,  ,•  •  >    ,  ■>.;;; 

Notice  was  immediately  dispatched  to  Arnold,  who  commanded 
at  that  post,  and  also  to  Washington,  then  on  his  return  from  Hart- 
ford to  head-quarters.  The  former,  upon  the  receipt  of  the  intelli- 
gence, instantly  hastened  to  the  river,  and,  taking  his  barge,  went 
on  board  the  British  sloop-of-war  Vulture,  which  lay  at  anchor  a 
little  below  the  forts. 

A  scheme  of  treachery  was  now  apparent,  and  the  whole  plan 
was  soon  exposed  by  the  confessions  of  the  captive  at  Tarrytown, 
who  proved  to  be  Major  Andr4,  adjutant-general  of  the  British 
army,  a  young  man  universally  admired  for  talents  and  courage, 
and  beloved  for  his  amiable  and  gentlemanly  disposition.  It  ap- 
peared that  Arnold  had,  for  some  time  past,  been  in  communication 
with  Sir  Henry  Clinton,  and  that  the  command  at  West  Point  had 
been  solicited  and  obtained  by  him,  with  the  sole  object  of  its  sur- 
render to  the  enemy. 

To  treat  with  him  for  this  purpose,  Andr£  had  proceeded  up  the 
Hudson  in  the  Vulture,  and  a  meeting  was  effected.  From  some 
unforeseen  difficulty,  he  was  unable  to  return  on  board,  and  was 
compelled  to  pass  the  night  at  a  house  within  the  American  lines. 
Attempting  to  make  his  way  to  New  York  by  land,  in  disguise, 
and  bearing  a  pass  from  Arnold,  he  waa  arrested  in  the  manner 
before  related. 

Upon  a  trial  by  court-martial,  he  was  condemned  as  a  spy,  and 
suffiired  death,  in  accordance  with  the  severe  requirements  of  mar- 
tial law,  notwithstanding  the  vehement  exertions  of  Clinton  for  his 
release,  and  the  general  sympathy  in  his  behalf,  awakened  by  his 
high  character  and  noble  demeanour. 

Arnold's  disaffection  appears  to  have  resulted,  principally,  from 
pecuniary  embiirrasstnents,  the  consequence  of  his  own  reckless 
extravagance.     He  thought  himself  neglected  in  some  early  military 


800 


THE  PEOPLE'S   BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


appointments,  and,  subsequently,  the  partial  disallowance  of  an  un- 
reasonable claim  upon  congress,  made  by  him  in  relation  to  the 
expenses  of  th"e  Canadian  expedition,  mortified  and  eyraged  him. 
He  had  also  been  tried  by  court-martial  for  alleged  peculation  in 
his  management  of  public  funds,  while  in  command  at  Philadelphia, 
and  had  received  a  reprimand  from  the  commander-in-chief. 

No  officer  in  the  American  army  exhibited  more  remarkable 
abilities  as  a  commander  than  Arnold,  and  in  personal  prowess  and 
courage,  he  was,  perhaps,  unequalled  by  any  of  his  associates.  His 
important  services  had  induced  his  countrymen  to  look  with  leniency 
upon  failings  which  would  have  endangered  the  popularity  of  an- 
other. In  proportion  to  the  former  complacency  of  the  community, 
was  their  indignation  at  this  exhibition  of  unprincipled  depravity — 
an  indignation  destined  to  be  immeasurably  heightened  by  the  sub- 
sequent conduct  of  its  object,  who  devoted  his  brilliant  talents  to  the 
service  of  t!  le  enemy,  in  active  warfare  against  his  countrymen. 

The  autumn  passed  away  with  no  farther  warlike  incidents  of 
much  public  importance.  A  savage  guerilla  contest  deno'  \  por- 
tions of  the  Carolinas;  and  at  the  north-west,  the  exasp-  ;  •  ;  Tro- 
quois  still  continued  to  send  out  war-parties  for  the  pluocter  and 
destruction  of  the  frontier  settlements.  In  October,  the  valley  of 
the  Mohawk  was  desolated  by  a  mixed  party  of  whites,  under  John- 
son, and  Indians  led  by  Brant  and  the  Seneca  half-breed,  Corn 
Planter.  A  letter,  written  by  Brant  on  this  occasion,  speaks  with 
indignation  at  cruelties  practised  by  his  associates,,  particularly  the 
Butlers,  whose  names  are  connected  with  every  atrocity  in  the  con- 
duct of  this  predatory  warfiure. 


>i-V:5-,^ 


THE  AMEBIOAN   BEVOLUTION. 


i)ii    lii,    i      it     Sh    Jit,       tZVtiAitl* 


801 


RBYOLT    OP    THE    PENNSYLVANIA   TROOPS.  —  ARNOLD'S  EXPE- 
DITION   INTO    VIRGINIA. — ORE.?NE    IN    COMMAND    OF    THE 
SOUTHERN  ARMY. — MORGAN'S   DETACHMENT:   BATTLE  OF 
C0WPEN8:  PURSUIT  OF  MORGAN  BY  C0RNWALLI8;  PASSAGE 
OF  THE  CATAWBA:  RETREAT  INTO  VIRGINIA:  BATTLE  OF 
GUILFORD  COURT-HOUSE.  —  GREENE'S  MARCH  INTO 
SOUTH  CAROLINA. — CORNWALLIS  IN  VIRGINIA. 
—  BATTLE    AT    HOBKIRK'S    HILL.  —  SEIZURE 
OF   BRITISH  FORTS  BY   MARION   AND    LEE. 

The  year  1781  opened  unpromisingly  for  the  Americans.  A 
dangerous  disaffection  in  the  camp  at  Morristown  broke  out  at  this 
period  in  open  revolt.  The  causes  of  complaint,  were  unpaid  arrear- 
ages, and  a  dispute  respecting  the  terms  of  enlistment.  The  regi- 
ments from  Pennsylvania  claimed  their  discharge  at  the  end  of  a 
three  years'  term,  although,  according  to  the  representation  of  their 
officers,  the  whole  period  of  the  war  was  included  in  their  engage- 
ment to  serve. 

Thirteen  hundred  men,  defying  the  authority  of  their  command- 
ers, one  of  whom  was  killed  in  the  attempt  to  reduce  them  to  obe- 
dience, marched  off,  under  arms,  in  the  direction  of  Philadelphia, 
with  the  expressed  purpose  of  compelling  compliance  with  their 
demands.  General  Wayne  in  vain  attempted  to  recall  them  to  a 
sense  of  duty,  and  was  forced  to  content  himself  with  procuring 
such  supplies  for  their  use  on  the  march  as  should  ^  ■'elude  the 
necessity  for  plundering  the  inhabitants.  At  Princeton,  commis- 
sioners from  congress,  and  from  the  state  authorities,  held  a  confer- 
ence with  the  malcontents,  and,  after  some  discussion,  the  main 
points  in  dispute  were  yielded  by  the  former.  Several  messengers, 
sent  by  Sir  Henry  Clinton  to  persuade  the  mutineers,  by  handsome 
offers,  to  enlist  in  the  king's  army,  were  seized  and  hanged  as  spies. 
A  similar  outbreak  among  the  New  Jersey  troops,  was  quelled  by 
force — tjvo  of  the  ringleaders  being  shot.  These  movements  had 
the  effect  to  rouse  congress  and  the  states  to  a  sense  of  the  necessities 
of  the  army,  and  a  large  sum  of  money  was  promptly  raised,  in 
6I)ecie,  for  part  payment  of  an'earagcs. 


802 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


Early  in  January,  Arnold,  who  had  received,  as  the  re  .ard  ot  uia 
intended  treachery,  the  sum  of  ten  thousand  pounds,  and  a  commis- 
sion as  a  brigadier-general  in  the  British  army,  conmenced  active 
operations  in  Virginia.  He  passed  up  James  river,  with  a  consider- 
able force,  and  afler  plundering  Bichmond,  and  doing  much  damage 
by  the  destruction  of  buildings,  together  with  valuable  public  stores, 
he  entered  upon  the  occupation  of  Portsmouth. 

A  great  effort  was  made  to  outnumber  and  overpower  this  detach- 
ment. La  Fayette,  with  a  body  of  troops  from  New  England  and 
New  Jersey,  was  dispatched  against  it;  and  the  French  fleet,  then 
free  to  put  to  sea,  made  sail  for  the  Chesapeake,  for  the  purpose  of 
cutting  off  retreat.  This  movement  was  anticipated  by  the  British 
squadron,  which  took  possession  of  the  bay,  ailer  an  engagement 
with,  and  discomfi  ure  of  the  enemy. 

The  command  of  the  continental  army  at  the  south,  previous  to 
this  period,  had  been  conferred  upon  General  Greene,  in  place  of 
Gates,  recalled.  The  small  force  under  his  command,  consisted  of 
but  two  thousand  men,  notwithstanding  endeavours  made,  during 
the  early  part  of  the  winter,  to  procure  recruits  from  Virginia  and 
elsewhere.  Against  a  detachment  of  about  one  thousand  of  these 
troops,  under  General  Morgan,  while  on  their  march  into  western 
South  Carolina,  Cornwallis  dispatched  Tarleton,  with  a  force  about 
equal  in  numbers.  His  own  plan  was  to  intercept  communication 
between  the  divisions  of  the  American  army,  by  marching  north- 
ward from  his  camp  at  Winnsborough.  , 

Hotly  pursued  by  Tarleton,  whose  movements  were  always  rapid 
and  prompt,  M'jrgan  made  a  stand  at  the  Cowpens,  in  the  present 
county  of  Spartanburgh,  near  the  North  Carolina  border.  Deceived 
by  a  pretended  or  apparent  retreat  of  the  advanced  lines,  the  British 
rushed  U)  the  attack  without  due  precaution  for  the  preservation  of 
order,  and  when  they  found  thentselves  coolly  withstood  by  the 
continentals,  who  poured  in  a  heavy  and  destructive  fire  at  close- 
quarters,  their  line  was  broken,  and  a  complete  rout  ensued.  More 
than  half  of  the  entire  force  were  taken  prisoners  or  killed.  The 
battle  was  fought  on  the  17th  of  January,  1781. 

Marching  with  great  celerity,  Morgan  gained  the  fords  of  Catawba 
on  the  29th,  his  object  being  to  take  his  prisoners  to  a  place  of  secu- 
rity in  Virginia.  Immediately  alter  the  battle  at  Cowpens,  Tarleton, 
with  the  remainder  of  his  detachment,  effected  a  junction  with  Corn- 
wallis.    Strengthened   by  reinforcements  from   Charleston,  under 


1.9 

h 
o 


o 

o 

Co 


:■.  ..  :ri; 


t 


THE  AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 


803 


Leslie,  the  whole  army  was  put  in  rapid  motion  to  intercept  or  over- 
take the  victorious  continenti  'a.  Morgan  had  effected  a  passage  of 
the  Catawba  but  two  hours  before  the  arrival  of  Cornwallis'  advance 
upon  the  bank. 

Night  coming  on,  a  sudden  rise  of  water  delayed  the  pursuing 
army,  and  secured  the  escape  of  the  Americans.  General  Greene, 
wit'ji  a  few  attendants,  joined  this  division  on  the  Slst,  and  assumed 
command.  As  soon  as  the  British  could  pass  the  river,  (on  the  1st 
of  February,)  the  pursuit  recommenced.  '  'he  Americans  reached 
thrt  Yadkin,  with  the  enemy  close  upon  their  rear,  and  there  a  piece 
of  good  fortune,  similar  to  that  experienced  at  the  Catawba,  checked 
pursuit  for  a  time,  and  gave  opportunity  for  a  junction  of  the  two 
divisions  of  the  army  at  Guilford  court-house. 

The  endeavour  of  Cornwallis  was  now  to  cut  off  their  retreat  into 
Virginia,  at  the  ford  of  Dan  river.  The  retreating  army  still  suc- 
ceeded in  maintaining  its  advanced  position,  and  reached  Virginia 
in  safety,  leaving  the  British  masters  of  the  Carolinas.  In  the  long 
and  rapid  march  from  South  Carolina,  the  American  troops  suffered 
severely  from  over-fatigue,  and  from  the  insufficiency  of  clothing 
suitable  to  the  severity  of  the  season. 

Cornwallis  took  up  his  quarters  at  Hillsborough,  and  resorted  to 
measures  similar  to  those  enforced  in  South  Carolina,  for  organizing 
and  encouraging  the  tories,  and  for  the  punishment  and  humiliation 
of  the  patriots.    The  latter  were  not  slow  in  retaliation  whenever 
opportunity  offered.     Greene,  having  received  some  addition  to  his 
army  from  the  Virginia  uiilitia,  reentered  North  Carolina.     He  at 
first  contented  himself  with  checking  the  movements  of  the  tories. 
A  party  of  these,  numbering  two  or  three  hundred,  falling  in  with  a 
detachinent  of  cavalry,  under  the  American  Colonel  Lee,  supposed 
it  to  be  Tarleton's  legion,  and,  in  perfect  confidence,  exposed  their 
own  character  and  position.     They  were  all  massacred  on  the  spot. 
Largely  reinforced  by  volunteers  from  Virginia  and  North  Caro- 
lina, Greene  finally  offered  biillle  near  Guilford  court-house,  on  the 
15th  of  March.     Ilia  forces  out-numbered  those  of  the  enemy  in  the 
ratio  of  more  than  two  to  one,  but  a  large  portion  of  them  were 
inexpe  ienced  volunteers  and  militia.     The  latter  were  of  little  or 
no  service  in  the  engagement,  many  of  them  throwing  down  their 
arms,  and  dispersing  at  the  first  discharge.    The  continental  troops 
exhibited  both  courage  and  firinnes.s,  but  were  finally  driven  from 
their  position   at  the  point  of  the  bayonet,  and  made  an  orderly 
Vol.  IV.— 48 


304 


THE  PEOPLE'S   BOOK  OF  HISTOKY. 


retreat.  The  loss  on  both  sides  was  heavy,  but  that  of  the  victors 
was  the  greatest,  amounting  to  more  than  five  hundred.  The  British 
troops  were  in  a  state  of  extreme  suffering  from  want  of  food  and 
from  the  fatigues  of  the  -engagement;  advantage  could  not,  therefore, 
be  taken  of  the  victory. 

No  pursuit  was  ordered,  and  Cornwallis,  finding  great  difficulty 
in  procuring  supplies  for  his  army,  took  up  his  march  down  Capo 
Fear  river,  towards  Wilmington.  In  the  month  of  April,  General 
Greene,  with  nc  'y  two  thousand  men,  marched  into  South  Carolina, 
where  the  British  army  of  occupation  was  so  far  reduced  by  the 
detachment  for  invasion  of  North  Carolina,  that  a  fair  opportunity 
offered  for  a  recovery  of  the  state,  or,  at  least,  for  compelling  Corn- 
wallis to  move  southward  for  its  protection.  The  latter  general, 
instead  of  adopting  that  policy,  marcheo  into  Virginia,  and  united 
his  forces  with  those  before  sent  into  the  countrj',  under  Arnold, 
and  now  commanded  by  Phillips. 

The  state  of  affairs  in  the  Carolinas,  throughout  these  campaigns, 
was  that  of  civil  war  in  its  worst  and  most  ferocious  aspect.  Such 
disregard  for  human  life  was,  perhaps,  exhibited  at  no  other  period, 
ar,d  in  no  other  quarter,  during  the  war.  Whigs  and  tones  rivalled 
each  other  in  sanguinary  retribution  for  mutual  wrongs.  It  is  im- 
possible to  ascertain,  with  any  approach  to  certainty,  the  number  of 
those  who  perished  in  skirmi^^hes,  at  the  ha  .ds  of  the  lawless  mobs, 
or  victims  of  private  malice,  in  this  fratricidal  contest,  but  it  mu,'t 
have  been  very  large,  and  by  some  is  computed  by  thousands. 

Greene,  entering  South  Carolina,  posted  himself  upon  Ilobkirk's 
hill,  in  the  vicinity  of  Camden,  then  occupied  by  an  inferior  force 
of  the  enemy,  under  Lord  Rawdon.  Ilis  cavalry  was  on  march,  by 
a  detour,  to  join  the  partisan  forces  of  Marion,  and  intercept  com- 
munication with  Charleston.  He  was  attacked  at  his  position  on 
the  25th  of  April.  The  Americans  fought  bravely,  but  were  unable 
to  resist  the  charge  of  the  British  bayonet.  Obliged  to  retreat, 
Greene  fell  back  to  Kugely's  mills,  several  miles  distant. 

The  mounted  forces,  under  Marion  and  Lee,  succeeded  in  occupy- 
ing the  passes  on  the  north  of  the  Santee,  and  in  seizing  upon  several 
defensive  posts.  Sumpter  and  his  followers  were  no  less  successful 
in  attacks  upon  detached  giirrisons,  stationed  to  maintain  lines  of 
communication.  Forts  Watson  and  Motle,  with  Orangeburgh, 
Georgetown,  and  Augusta,  were  soon  in  the  hands  of  the  Ameri- 
cans.    The  British  fort,  "  Ninety -Six,"  held  out  against  every  effort 


THE  AMERICAN   REVOLUTION. 


805 


to  take  it  by  siege  or  storm.  The  heat  of  the  season  suspended 
further  active  operations.  The  great  effort  of  the  campaign  had 
been  so  far  accomplished,  that  the  British  had  been  obliged  to  con- 
centrate their  forces,  and  abandon  further  attempts  at  extended 
occupation. 


uiui     w^     JL       iL      JLl    Jbb        i/V*    t^     X     X  • 

WAR  BETWEEN  ENGLAND   AND   HOLLAND. — SEIZURE   AND  PLUN- 
DER OP  ST.   EU8TATIUS. — THE  ARMED   NEUTRALITY. — RECOV- 
ERY OF   WEST   PLORIDA   BY   SPAIN. — CONTINENTAL  CUR- 
RENCY.  PLAN    FOR  THE   RECOVERY   OF   NEW   YORK. — 

VIRGINIA  RAVAGED  BY  PHILLIPS  AND  C0RNWALLI8. 

ENCAMPMENTS   A'     fQRKTOWN    AND   GLOUCESTER 

POINT.  —  WASHINGTON'S    MARCH  SOUTHWARD. 
— ATTACK    ON    NEW    LONDON    AND    GROTON. 
— CAMPAIGN   IN  SOUTH  CAROLINA.  —  BAT- 
TLE   NEAR    EUTAW    SPRINGS. 


Beyond  the  limits  of  the  United  States,  during  the  winter  and 
spring,  important  events  had  transpired,  at  which,  although  con- 
nected with  the  diHiculties  between  England  and  her  colonies,  we 
can  barely  glance.  During  the  autumn  of  1780,  the  British  govern- 
ment obtained  information  of  a  correspondence  between  the  United 
States  and  Holland  relative  to  a  commercial  treaty.  An  arrogant 
demand  upon  the  latter  for  explanation  or  atonement,  not  receiving 
the  .attention  required,  was  soon  followed  by  a  declaration  of  war. 
The  opportunity  presented  for  the  acquisition  of  an  enormous  booty, 
was  too  tempting  to  be  resisted,  and,  doubtless,  occasioned  this  pre- 
cipitancy of  action.  The  Dutch  possessions  in  the  West  Indies  were 
seizpd  W  a  fleet,  under  Rodney,  in  the  month  of  February,  1781.  At 
the  island  of  St.  Eustatius,  an  immense  number  of  ships  and  an  accu- 
mulation of  merchandise,  valued  at  fifteen  millions  of  dollars,  were 
taken  as  lawful  prize.  This  island  had  been  one  of  the  principal 
places  of  deposit  for  goods  intended  to  be  shipped  to  the  United  States. 

England  was  thus  involved  in  war  with  France  and  Holland. 
Her  claim  of  the  right  to  interfere  with  the  commerce  of  neutral 
nations,  had  also  caused  the  formation  of  a  coalition  by  the  principal 


806 


TUK  PlSUrLE'S   BUOK   OF  I118T0KY. 


northern  powers  of  Europe,  known  as  the  "Armed  Neutrality,"  for 
the  purpose  of  mutual  protection  in  their  commercial  rights  against 
the  injurious  assumptions  of  Great  Britain. 

Spain,  besides  uniting  her  powerful  fleet  to  that  of  France, 
for  operation  against  the  conunon  enemy,  took  the  occasion  to 
recover  the  settlements  of  West  Florida  from  the  British.  This  was 
effected  in  the  spring  of  1781,  by  a  force  from  Louisiana,  under 
Galvez,  the  Spanish  governor,  with  the  cooperation  of  a  fleet  from 
Havana. 

An  important  change,  introduced  by  congress  during  the  summer 
of  this  year,  in  the  conduct  of  financial  operations,  by  which  the 
government  refused  to  deal  further  with  the  depreciated  paper  cur- 
rency, rendered  this  entirely  worthless.  Much  of  the  paper  was 
tjiken  up  by  individual  states — by  which  it  was  to  be  redeejiied 
according  to  the  provisions  accompanying  ita  issue — at  an  enormous 
depreciation,  as  an  equivalent  for  taxes,  but  an  immense  amount 
remained  upon  the  hands  of  private  holders.  Various  schemes  foi 
replacing  it,  at  its  market  value,  by  a  "new  tenor"  of  bills,  bearing 
interest,  proved  failures,  as  nothing,  at  this  period,  could  sustain  tiio 
value  of  any  public  issue,  either  by  the  union,  or  by  states  in  their 
separate  capacity.  Nearly  all  of  the  latter  hud  pursued  a  course 
similar  to  that  of  the  confederation,  in  this  respect,  and  their  paper 
had  experienced  a  steady  and  hopeless  decline  in  value. 

At  the  opening  of  the  campaign  of  1781,  extensive  preparations 
were  made  by  the  United  States  for  a  syatomatic  effort  at  the  recov- 
ery of  New  York.  For  this  purpose,  forces  were  gradually  concen- 
trated in  that  vicinity;  but  the  events  of  the  spring  and  summer 
gave  a  new  aspect  to  the  campaign,  and  changed  the  scene  of  action. 

The  British  forces,  under  Phillips,  in  Virgiiiia,  greatly  outn.um- 
bered  any  which,  at  that  time,  could  be  brought  to  uppo.><e  tlictn. 
The  only  effective  American  troops  in  tliis  quarter,  were  La  Fayette's 
continentals.  Phillips,  with  little  opposition,  sent  detachments  up 
the  James  and  Appamattox  rivers,  and  plundered  and  destroyed 
property  to  tiie  amount  of  millions.  Joined  by  the  forces  of  Corn- 
wallis,  in  the  month  of  May,  and  by  trooja  sent  round  from  New 
York,  the  army  of  invasion  amounted  to  about  eight  thousand  men: 
that  of  the  Americans,  in  Virginia,  including  raw  recruits  and 
militia,  little  excecdo  '  three  thousand.  A  little  later,  the  Pennsyl- 
vania xegi  me  i  its,  undei"  Wayne,  effected  a  junction  with  La  Fayette's 
army,  increasing  it  to  about  four  thousand. 


Nd 
foi 
we 

Ne 


THE  AMERICAN    REVOLUTION. 


807 


ComwalHs,  after  destroying  a  valuable  collection  of  armB  and 
stores  at  the  armory  on  the  James  river,  in  Fluvanna,  and  driving 
the  state  legislature  precipitately  from  Charlottesville,  then  the  place 
of  session,  moved  with  his  whole  army  towards  the  coast.  He  had 
received  instructions  to  this  effect  from  Clinton,  who,  having  ob- 
tained intimation  of  the  intended  attack  upon  New  York,  desired 
to  dispose  the  Virginia  division  where  it  could  be  made  available  in 
case  of  necessity. 

Early  iq  August,  a  position  was  accordingly  taken  at  Yorktown  and 
Gloucester  Point,  on  either  side  of  York  river,  at  its  debouchement 
into  Chesapeake  bay.  Every  effort  was  made  to  strengthen  and 
fortify  these  posts:  a  considerable  naval  force  was  also  at  hand  in 
the  river  and  bay,  to  cooperate  in  any  future  movement. 

The  northern  army,  under  Washington,  was  joined  by  the  French 
forces,  so  long  stationed  at  Newport,  in  the  month  of  July.  While 
preparations  were  actively  going  on  to  prosecute  the  siege  of  New 
York,  information  was  received  that  a  powerful  French  fleet  from 
the  West  Indies,  commanded  by  Count  de  Grasse,  was  momentarily 
expected  in  the  Chesapeake.  Determined  to  seize  so  favourable  an 
opportunity  for  the  annihilation  of  the  army  of  Cornwallis,  Wash- 
ington abandoned,  for  the  time,  his  designs  against  New  York,  and 
hastened  to  put  the  main  army  en  route  for  the  south.  He  was  care- 
ful to  conceal  this  change  of  operations  from  the  enemy,  and  so  suc- 
cessfully was  the  movement  planned  and  conducted,  that  Clinton 
had  no  intimation  of  the  new  turn  of  affairs  until  the  army  was  safe 
from  interception  or  pursuit. 

Advantage  was  now  taken  of  the  withdrawal  of  the  continental 
and  French  armies,  for  an  expedition  into  Connecticut  The  traitor 
Arnold,  to  whom  the  command  was  intrusted,  shapei.  his  course  for 
New  London.  On  the  morning  of  September  6th,  a  fleet  of  twenty- 
four  sail  was  seen  off  the  harbour.  About  sixteen  hundred  troops 
were  landed,  in  two  divisions,  one  led  by  Arnold  in  person,  on  the 
New  London  side,  the  other  by  Colonel  Eyre,  at  Groton. 

Fort  Griswold,  on  the  heights  at  the  latter  place,  was  garrisoned 
by  one  hundred  and  sixty  volunteers,  commanded  by  Colonel 
Ledyard.  With  the  expectation  of  receiving  an  immediate  rein- 
forcement of  militia,  it  was  determined  to  defend  the  post.  This 
expectation  proved  vain ;  the  fort  was  carried  by  storm,  and  most 
of  the  garrison,  in  accordance  with  the  cruel  usage  of  war,  were 
cut  to  pieces  for  defending  an  untenable  position.     An  eye-wit- 


SOS 


THE  l'EOl'LE'8   BOOK  OF  III8T0UY. 


neas*  thus  describes  the  catastrophe:  "Colonel  Ledyard,  seeing  the 
enemy  within  the  fort,  gave  orders  to  cease  firing,  and  to  throw 
down  our  arms,  as  the  fort  had  surrendered.  We  did  so,  but  tl  ey 
continued  firing  in  platoons  upon  those  who  wore  retreating  to  the 
magazine  and  barrack-rooms  fur  safety.  At  this  moment,  the  rene- 
gado  col  1  commanding,  cried  out,  'Who  commands  this  garri- 
son ?'  Colonel  Ledyard,  who  was  standing  near  me,  answered, '  I  did, 
sir,  but  you  do  now,'  at  the  same  time  stepping  forward,  handing 
him  his  sword,  with  point  towards  himself."  The  narrator  was,  at 
this  moment,  wounded  by  a  bayonet  thrust;  he  continues:  "The  first 
person  I  saw  afterwards,  was  my  brave  commander,  a  corpse  by  my 
side,  having  been  run  through  the  body  with  his  own  sword  by  the 
savage  renegado.  Never  was  a  scene  of  more  brutal,  wanton  carnage 
than  now  took  place.  The  enemy  were  still  firing  on  us  by  platoons, 
and  in  the  barrack  rooms.  *  *  All  this  time  the  bayonet  was 
freely  used,  even  on  those  who  were  helplessly  wounded,  and  in  the 
agonies  of  death."  Those  of  the  wounded  who  escaped  the  general 
massacre,  were  treated  with  great  brutality  and  neglect. 

Arnold's  division  met  with  similar  success  in  the  attack  upon  New 
London.  The  town  was  plundered,  and,  at  the  same  time,  set  on 
fire,  and  reduced  to  ashes.  Nothing  further  was  attempted:  the 
country  adjacent  presented  little  temptation  to  the  marauders,  and 
they  immediately  rPembarked,  and  set  sail  for  New  York  with  their 
booty  and  a  number  of  prisoners. 

While  these  events  were  taking  jilace  at  the  north.  General  Greene 
had  been  actively  engaged  in  preparing  for  the  renewal  of  hostilities 
in  Carolina.  Towards  the  close  of  August,  having  procured  rein- 
forcements of  militia,  and  a  supply  of  horses  for  his  cavalry  corps, 
he  left  his  quarters  among  the  hills  of  the  Santee,  and  marched  in 
pursuit  of  the  enemy,  then  under  command  of  Lieutenant-Colonel 
Stewart.  An  indecisive  and  bloody  buttle  was  fought,  on  the  8th 
of  September,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Eutaw  Springs.  The  Amer- 
ican forces  rather  exceeded  those  of  the  enemy  in  point  of  numbers, 
amounting  to  more  than  two  thousand  men. 

After  this  engagement,  Greene  drew  off  his  forces  to  his  former 
place  of  encampment,  at  the  Santee  hills;  the  British  moved  towards 
Charleston.  The  latter,  although  so  frequently  victorious  through- 
out these  southern  campaigns,  and  although  favoured  by  a  large 
party  among  the  inhabitants,  bad  failed  to  gain   any  important 

*  Stephen  Ilemptitead. 


sfl 
ai 
e] 

t^ 

til 


THE  AMKKIOAN    UEVOLUTIuN, 


809 


advantage  by  their  conqucstfl.  It  was  comparatively  easy  to  over- 
run the  country,  and  to  inflict  incalculable  injury  upon  the  property 
of  the  scattered  population;  but  they  always  left  enemies  in  ihcir 
rear,  and  the  obstinacy  of  the  Anglo  Saxon  disposition,  duly  inher- 
ited by  the  Americans,  and  losing  nothing  of  its  force  by  translation 
to  the  New  World,  continually  strengthened  the  antagonistic  spirit 
of  the  people.  The  operations  of  Stewart  were  thenceforth  conrined 
to  the  vicinity  of  Charleston. 


CHAPTER   XXIII. 

PRBNCH  PLBET  IN  THE  CHESAPEAKE. — 8IE0E  OP  YORKTOWN 

SURRENDER    OF    CORNWALLIS.  —  W  I  NTEKQD  ARTER8. — 

PROCEEDINGS    I  '    THE    PVOLISH   PARLIAMENT.  —  NEGO- 
TIATIONS   FOR    PEACE.     -TERMS   OP   TREATY.  —  CESSA- 
TION    OP      HOSTILIi     ,.S.  —  DISAPPECTION     IN     THE 
CONTINENTAT.   ARMY. — EVACl'ATION   OP   NEW   YORK 
—  POlll;  >N    OP    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


About  the  Ist  of  September,  1781,  after  a  long  series  of  manoeu- 
vres, in  which  he  wisely  avoided  any  general  engagement  with  the 
British  fleet,  the  Count  de  Grasse  brought  twenty-four  ships  of  the 
lino  safely  into  the  Chesapeake,  thus  securing  complete  possession 
of  the  bay,  and  precluding  all  possibility  of  Cornwallis'  effecting  a 
retreat  by  sea.  The  fleet  was  soon  after  joined  by  the  French 
gquadron  from  Newport,  commanded  by  Du  Barras. 

The  American  army,  concentrated  for  the  purpose  of  laying  siege 
to  Yorktown,  including  continentals,  militia,  the  French  previously 
static,  ju  at  Newport,  and  those  newly  landed  by  De  Grasse, 
amou'i:^.!  to  sixteen  thousand  men.  That  of  Cornwallis  did  not 
exceed  eight  thousand.  After  detaching  a  force  to  hold  in  check 
the  British  at  Gloucester  Point,  Washington  entered  vigorously 
upon  the  systematic  prosecution  of  the  siege.  The  first  works  were 
thrown  up  on  the  night  of  the  6th  of  October:  three  days  after- 
wards, they  were  so  far  completed  that  heavy  artillery  was  planted, 
and  brought  to  bear,  at  a  distance  of  but  six  hundred  yards  from  the 
British  line.  A  second  parallel  was  commenced  on  the  night  of  the 
11th,  at  an  intermediate  distance  between  the  first  and  the  enemy's 


810 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


position.  The  work  could  not  be  safely  carried  on,  in  consequence 
of  a  heavy  fire  from  two  advam^ed  redoubts,  which  were,  therefore, 
stormed,  and  connected  with  the  second  line  of  fortifications.  This 
service  was  accomplished  by  two  distinct  detachments,  one  Ameri- 
can, the  other  French — the  efforts  of  either  were  thus  stimulated  by 
un  ardent  spirit  of  emulation. 

The  Americans,  being  well  supplied  with  battering  artillery,  now 
opened  so  heavy  a  fire  upon  the  British  fortifications  as  to  disable 
many  of  the  guns,  and  effect  breaches  in  the  works.  Yorktown  was 
no  longer  tenable,  and  Cornwallis,  on  the  evening  of  October  16th, 
endeavoured  to  escape  by  crossing  to  Gloucester  Point.  Failing  in 
the  attempt  to  transport  hia  troops  over  the  river,  in  consequence 
of  a  severe  storm,  he  had  no  resource  but  a  capitulation.  Proposals 
to  this  effect  were  made  on  the  day  following,  and  the  terms  were 
speedily  arranged.  The  whole  British  army,  more  than  seven 
thousand  men,  became  prisoners  of  war;  the  naval  force  surrendered 
to  the  French  admiral. 

This  victory  was  the  crowning  event  of  the  war.  Although  hos- 
tilities still  lingered  throughout  the  succeeding  year,  prior  to  the 
conclusion  of  negotiations  for  peace,  they  involved  no  extensive 
military  operations.  A  partisan  warfare  still  desolated  some  of  the 
southern  and  western  districts,  and  the  frontier  was,  from  time  to 
time,  harassed  by  incursions  of  the  savages.  The  main  French  and 
continental  armies  went  into  winter-quarters  in  November.  Greene, 
with  the  remains  of  the  southern  army,  took  a  station  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Charleston,  to  restrain  foraging  expeditions  of  the  enemy. 

The  tone  adopted  by  the  British  ministry  at  the  winter  session  of 
parliament,  1781-2,  gave  no  token  of  any  prpbable  concessions  to 
the  American  demands.  In  the  house  of  commons,  after  repeated 
failures,  a  motion  passed,  at  the  close  of  February,  calling  for  the 
adoption  of  measures  which  should  put  an  end  to  hostilities.  A 
change  in  the  cabinet,  at  this  juncture,  favoured  the  projects  of  the 
friends  of  peace.  Negotiations  were  speedily  opened  with  Adams, 
the  American  minister  at  Holland,  and  with  Franklin,  then  in  France, 
for  a  pacific  arrangement.  With  these  ministers  were  associated 
John  Jay  of  New  York,  and  Ilenry  Laurens  of  South  Carolina. 
Mr.  Richard  Oswald  conducted  the  preliminary  arrangements  in 
behalf  of  Great  Britain:  Franklin  and  Jay,  in  the  absence  of  the 
other  commissioners,  opened  the  negotiation  at  Paris  in  the  month 
of  A{)ril,  1782. 


__^i»a**f   S^Tflf-i-i;,  HitkfH*^,l 


V*''   <*--*, 


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t:  o  I'  y.  s  f  It  1 .1  .V  ;■  u  it  r  u  .1 1  r  u  f  lu  it  h   t  "  u  ^vif.i  1.  /.is. 


m 


THE  AMERICAN  EEVOLUTIOK. 


811 


Jealousy  of  secret  influence  unfevourable  to  the  interests  of  the 
United  States,  on  the  part  of  the  French  minister,  induced  the 
American  commissioners  to  depart  from  their  instructions  requiring 
that  he  should  take  part  in  their  negotiations,  and  a  provisional 
treaty  was  signed,  without  his  intervention,  at  the  close  of  the  fol- 
lowing autumn.    This  great  delay  resulted  from  the  difficulty  of 
settling  questions  of  boundary,  of  the  privileges  of  fishery  on  the 
northern  coast,  and  of  the  rights  of  tory  refugees.    In  favour  of  the 
latter,  the  American  commissioners  would  agree  to  nothing  farther 
than  a  proposed  recommendation  from  congress  to  the  states,  that 
confiscations  should  cease,  that  restitution  should  be  made  for  former 
seizures,  and  certain  personal  privileges,  as  to  right  of  residence, 
should  be  conceded.    The  former  customs  relative  to  the  Newfound- 
land fisheries  were  substantially  confirmed;  and,  respecting  bound- 
ary, the  states  retained  their  former  territory,  extending  westward 
to  the  Mississippi,  and  southward  to  latitude  thirty-one — leaving 
Spain  in  possession  of  the  wilderness  at  the  west,  and  of  the  mouth 
of  the  great  river.    England  retained  the  Canadas:  toward  the  north- 
west the  extent  of  the  American  claims  remained  still  unascertained. 

The  treaty  was  not  made  definitive  until  September  of  the  follow- 
ing year,  its  conclusion  being  contingent  upon  an  establishment  of 
peace  between  France  and  England,  by  virtue  of  the  former  treaty 
of  alliance  between  France  and  the  United  States.  At  the  first 
opening  of  pacific  negotiation  in  April,  ministers  from  all  the  belli- 
gerent nations  of  Europe  had  met  for  the  purpose  of  concluding 
arrangements  for  a  general  peace.  These  were  settled  in  the  spring 
of  1783,  and,  upon  the  transmission  of  the  intelligence  to  America, 
a  formal  proclamation  was  made  by  congress,  of  a  termination  of 
hostilities. 

During  the  spring  of  1782,  an  alanoiiig  disafiection  exL  "  '*  -1 
itself  among  some  portions  of  the  continental  army,  arising  from 
anticipated  failure  in  payment  of  their  arrearages.  This  feeling  l  . 
tended  to  many  of  the  officers,  and,  but  for  the  firmness  and  wisdom 
of  the  commander-in-chief,  might  have  led  to  lamentable  results. 
The  army  was  disbanded,  by  order  of  congress,  in  the  month  of 
November;  and,  within  a  few  weeks,  an  evacuation  of  New  York 
and  its  adjacent  strongholds  was  completed  by  the  British. 

On  Christinas  day,  in  the  following  month.  General  Washington 
appeared  before  congress,  in  session  at  Annapolis,  and  tendered  a 
resignation  of  his  commission  as  commander-in-chief. 


'f 


812 


TUE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


The  war  was  now  at  aa  end;  the  United  States,  acknowledged 
independent  by  the  nations  of  Europe,  were  free  to  adopt  a  form  of 
government  of  their  own  choosing,  untrammelled  by  the  restrictions 
of  ancient  customs  or  the  claims  of  hereditary  right.  But  the  posi- 
tion of  the  country,  if  no  longer  critical,  was  embarrassing  in  the 
extreme.  The  burden  of  an  enormous  debt,  the  poverty  consequent 
upon  the  expenditure  of  little  short  of  two  hundred  millions  of 
dollars  in  carrying  on  the  war,  the  failure  of  public  credit,  the  exist- 
ence of  sectional  jealousies,  the  great  territorial  extent  of  the  coun- 
try, the  mixture  of  races — all  combined  to  oppose  obstoyles  to  the 
establishment  of  a  new  and  complicated  scheme  of  government. 


the 
she 


par 

of 
tail 


THE  UNITED  STATES 


POSITION    OP    THE    UNION  AT   THE  CCyCLUSION  OP  PEACE.— 
BUSTING  DIPPICDLTIE8  WITH  GREAT  BRITAIN.  —  WEAKNESS 
OP   CONGRESS.  —  LOCAL  DISTURBANCES:   SHAY'S   REBELLION. 
— CONTENTION  POR  ENLARGING  CONGRESSIONAL  POWERS: 
OPPOSING  INTERESTS  OP  THE  STATES. — THE  PRESENT 
CONSTITUTION:   PEDERAL  LEGISLATURE:   POWERS  OP 
CONGRESS:   RESTRICTIONS;   LIMIT  OP  STATE  POW- 
ERS:  THE  EXECUTITE:   THE  JUDICIART:    KU- 
TUAL    GUARANTEES:    AMENDMENTS. 


J 


Fob  several  years  immediately  following  the  establishment  of 
American  independence,  the  affairs  of  the  country  remained  in  con- 
fusion, from  the  incapacity  of  congress,  under  the  old  articles  of  con- 
federation, to  bind  the  states  by  its  dsaiings  with  foreign  powpTs. 
Restrictions  upon  commerce,  which  the  congress  had  no  power  to 
mitigate  by  treaty,  retarded  the  development  of  the  national  re- 
sources. The  West  India  trade,  so  lucrative  before  the  war,  even 
under  ihe  old  "sugar  act,"  was  now  cut  off.  The  mouth  of  the 
Mississippi  was  closed,  by  Spain,  to  all  entrance  or  egress  of  Amer- 
ican vessels,  h  :  ing  the  growing  settlements  of  the  west  without 
the  means  for  disposing  of  their  produce. 

Great  Britain  could  hardly  be  expected  to  look  with  favour  upon 
the  confederation,  and  in  defiance  of  the  provisions  of  the  treaty, 
she  maintained  possession  of  the  strongholds  on  the  western  lakes. 
The  reason  given  for  this  retention,  was  a  non-compliance,  o  e 
part  of  t  .  Union,  with  prov"  1-  s  securing  to  British  subjecia  .ue 
right'  to  recover  debts  contract.  '  'jefore  the  wur.  Many  minor  points 
of  dispute  also  remained  unsettled.  With  respect  to  tho  ]'r-  es  sus- 
tained by  the  loyalists,  in  consequeu.    ■  f  confiscations,  i-i?    ecom- 


¥ 


su 


THE  PEOPLE'S   BOOK  OF   HISTORY. 


mendation  of  congress  had  as  little  effect  upon  the  action  of  the 
states  in  this  as  in  most  other  particulars.  A  great  number  of  these 
claims  to  indemnity  wfr*  ;iurw..|uently  examined  and  partially  sat- 
isfied by  act  of  parli;;iuenr„ 

The  weakness  of  (.•r'rg."«?M3  wa.s  made  repeatedly  the  subject  of 
earnest  exhortation  to  the  stntcs  and  tlo  ,  -  onle.  Unless  its  powers 
could  be  enh  rjed,  a  i  a  wjl'iign.:.-  ;  Ix  !  uced,  on  the  part  of  the 
states,  u»  abandon  .somi>  portion  of  their  sovereignty  for  the  sake  of 
greatt  0  centralizrvtion  of  power,  there  seemed  but  faint  prospects  of 
future  prosperity.  At  the  commencement  of  the  year  1786,  an  effort 
was  madf*  to  l>ring  about  a  convontio  froii .  the  states,  for  the  pur- 
pose of  e-.fab>ishii!^if  a  genernl  comintrcial  system,  but  the  attempt 
fell  through  tor  \\aiit  of  fail  '■  '.resetitation.  Those  members  who 
attended,  eariii'stlv  reconip' ended  a  meeting  of  delegates  from  all  the 
states,  to  alter  and  amend  the  articles  of  confederation,  so  as  to  define, 
confirm  and  enlarge  the  jurisdiction  of  the  central  government.  This 
proposal  received  the  sanction  of  congress  in  the  month  of  February 
of  the  following  year. 

If  the  power  of  congress  was  fast  becoming  a  nullity,  since  a 
change  of  circurrstances  had  diminished  the  respect  paid  to  its 
decrees  and  recornitiendations  during  the  dangers  of  actual  war,  the 
state  authorities  experienced  nearly  equal  difficulties  in  carrying  on 
the  necessary  operations  of  government.  The  people  were  in  a  con- 
dition of  great  destitution  and  distress.  Scarce  able  to  procure  the 
necessaries  of  life,  they  were  continually  called  upon  to  provide 
funds  for  public  purposes,  and,  as  these  were  collected  by  direct 
taxation,  the  burden,  if  in  reality  no  greater  than  that  attached  to 
imposts,  was  more  severely  felt  by  the  individual.  Nothing  was  more 
natural  than  that  they  should  attribute  their  suffering  and  poverty 
to  mal-administration  of  state  affairs,  nor  that  a  popular  cry  should 
be  raised  for  impolitic  -^  -  impracticable  schemes  of  amendment. 

In  the  autumn  of  lISC,  this  feelinp  broke  out  into  open  rebellion 
in  New  Hampshire  and  Massachusetts.  The  most  extensive  and 
dangerous  outbreak  occurred  in  the  latter  state.  One  Daniel  Shays, 
who  had  held  office  in  the  continental  army,  headed  the  movement, 
and,  before  any  effective  steps  were  taken  to  suppress  it.  coUcfjted 
an  armed  body  of  ■  a' contents,  about  a  thousand  in  n"-)?!!  .r.  Tiie 
immediate  objec'  :Kared  to  be  the  obstruction  of  !:o  .sessions  of 
the  courts.  A  *  .'  .'  y  superior  force  of  militia  was  called  out,  and 
put  under  v  i-.n    i  d  of  Genera)  Lincoln.     The  rebellion  w.xs  quelled 


2S^'> 


THE   UNITED   STATES. 


315 


with  very  little  bloodshed,  and  those  concerned  in  it,  in  accordance 
with  good  policy,  were  treated  with  lenity. 

The  convention,  for  the  purpose  of  remodelling  the  powers  of  con- 
gress, met  at  Philadelphia  on  the  14th  of  May,  1787.  Delegates 
were  present,  or  arrived  soon  after  the  opening  of  the  assembly,  from 
eleven  states,  Rhode  Island  and  New  Hampshire  having  alone  neg- 
lected to  make  choice  of  members.  The  number  commissioned  by 
each  state,  was  about  the  same  as  that  of  its  representatives  in 
congress.  Washington  was  chosen  president,  on  motion  of  Robert 
Morris — a  distinguished  financier,  to  whom  the  management  of  the 
monetary  affairs  of  government  had  been  priacipally  entrusted  for 
several  years,  during  the  period  of  greatest  difficulties,  before  and 
subsequent  to  the  close  of  the  war. 

Among  the  members  of  the  convention,  were  many  who  had 
taken  part  in  most  of  the  great  political  movements  from  the  com- 
mencement of  the  contest  with  England.  Franklin,  Rutledge,  Sher- 
man, Livingston,  Gerry,  and  others  of  the  early  patriots,  were 
present;  the  existing  congress  was  la'gely  represented;  and  the 
general  character  of  those  assembled,  was  marked  by  zeal,  earnest- 
ness, and  ability. 

The  proceedings  were  not  made  public  for  a  period  of  more  than 
thirty  years.  It  was  wisely  concluded  that  harmony  of  feeling  would 
be  promoted  by  the  promulgation  of  the  results  arrived  at,  unaccom- 
panied by  discussions  in  which  the  opposing  interests  of  the  different 
states  were  set  forth  and  enlarged  upon.  It  was  found  easier  to  pre- 
pare an  entirely  new  constitution,  than  to  alter  and  amend  the  old 
articles  of  confederation  so  as  to  meet  the  exigencies  of  the  times. 
Various  plans  were  framed  and  rejected,  and  it  was  not  until  the 
middle  of  September,  that  a  scheme  was  completed  which  the  con- 
vention was  willing  to  send  forth  to  the  people  for  ratification. 

The  claims  of  the  smaller  states  to  equal  representation  with  the 
larger,  the  commercial  interests  of  the  north  as  opposed  to  tliose  of 
agriculture  in  the  south,  the  apportionment  of  representatives,  the 
modes  of  election,  the  character  of  the  two  proposed  legislative 
bodies,  the  authority  and  duties  of  the  executive,  the  general  limita- 
tion of  congressional  powers,  the  formation  of  a  judiciary  departTient, 
and  many  minor  details,  gave  rise  to  long,  and,  frequently,  to  excited 
debate.  Prominent  among  the  vexed  que.stions  of  the  day.  were 
those  growing  out  of  a  diiference  of  ojiinion  and  interest  with  respect 
to  the  institution  of  slavery.     Upon  this  topic,  while  some  northern 


il 


816 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


f. 


members — especially  Gouverneur  Morris — inveighed  against  the  sys- 
tem with  extreme  warmth,  those  from  the  southern  states  supported 
its  interests  with  less  heat,  but  greater  determination. 

The  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  as  it  at  present  exists,  (with 
the  exception  of  a  few  amendments,  chiefly  relative  to  the  rights  of 
persons,  to  the  manner  of  choosing  president  and  vice-president,  and 
to  the  release  of  the  separate  states  from  liability  to  be  sued  in  the 
federal  courts  by  citizens  of  any  other  state  or  foreign  nation,)  was 
signed  on  the  17th  of  September,  1787,  by  thirty-eight  members  of 
the  convention,  representing  twelve  of  the  original  states.  New 
Hampshire  had  chosen  delegates  during  the  session ;  Rhode  Island 
alone  took  no  share  in  the  proceedings. 

By  the  provisions  of  this  instrument,  all  legislation  is  committed 
to  a  senate  and  house  of  representatives.  The  first  consists  of  two 
members  from  each  state — their  election  to  be  made  by  the  legisla- 
ture. They  are  chosen  for  six  years,  but  are  so  classified  that  one- 
third  of  the  v/hole  number  are  elected  every  second  year.  The 
second  is  composed  of  members  chosen  for  two  years,  by  the  people, 
in  proportion  to  the  population,  (originally  one  for  every  thirty 
thousand,  with  a  provision  securing  to  each  state  at  least  one  repre- 
sentative,) in  computing  which,  three-fifths  of  all  slaves  are  included. 
The  word  slave  is  avoided  by  circumlocution.  As  an  offset  to  this 
concession  to  the  slave-holding  states,  direct  taxes  are  decreed  to  be 
apportioned  in  the  same  manner. 

Bills,  in  order  to  become  laws,  must  pass  both  houses,  and  receive 
the  signature  of  the  president,  or,  in  case  of  his  refusal,  must  be 
reconsidered  and  approved  by  a  two-thirds  vote  in  each  house.  The 
house  of  representativr^  has  the  privilege  of  originating  all  revenue 
bills.  Provisions  are  made,  for  an  annual  session  on  the  first  Mon- 
day in  December,  for  the  conduct  of  proceedings,  tr'al  of  impeach- 
ments, rules  relative  to  adjournment,  discipline  of  members,  supply 
of  vacancies,  census  returns,  and  other  details;  afler  which  the  gen- 
eral powers  of  the  federal  legislature  are  enumerated  substantially 
as  follows: 

Congress  is  empowered  to  levy  uniform  taxes,  duties,  imposts,  and 
excises;  to  regulate  foreign  commerce,  and  commerce  between  the 
states;  to  coin  money,  and  provide  punishments  for  counterfeitinsr* 
to  establish  a  post-office  system;  to  make  regulations  respecting 
copy-rights  and  patents;  to  create  inferior  federal  courts,  and  pass 
laws  for  the  punishment  o.  offences  on  the  high  seas;  todefli;^  war. 


Tinnh-g'  ^mnmrm 


THE   UNITED   STATES. 


817 


and  to  raise  and  support  armies  and  a  navy;  to  provide  for  requisi- 
tions upon  the  militia  in  case  of  public  necessity;  to  cxercije  juris- 
diction over  the  district  occupied  as  the  seat  of  government;  and, 
generally,  to  provide  for  the  common  welfare  and  defence. 

Finally:  "To  make  all  laws  which  shall  be  necessary  and  proper 
for  carrying  into  execution  the  foregoing  powers,  and  all  other  pow- 
ers vested  by  this  constitution  in  the  government  of  the  United 
States,  or  in  any  department  or  officer  thereof." 

Congress  was  restrained  from  prohibiting  the  importation  of  slaves 
prior  to  the  year  1808.  There  exist,  moreover,  general  restrictions 
forbidding  the  suspension  of  the  privilege  of  habeas  corpus,  except  in 
times  of  public  danger,  the  passage  of  ex  post  facto  laws,  the  imposi- 
tion of  export  duties,  the  requisition  of  duties,  clearances,  or  entries, 
in  commerce  between  the  states,  the  draught  of  public  funds  except 
to  meet  regular  appropriations,  and  the  grant  of  any  title  of  nobility. 

By  section  X.,  "No  state  shall  enter  into  any  treaty,  alliance,  or 
confederation;  grant  letters  of  marque  and  reprisal;  coin  money; 
emit  bills  of  credit;  make  any  thing  but  gold  and  silver  coin  a 
tender  in  payment  of  debts;  pass  any  bill  of  attainder,  ex  post  facto 
law,  or  law  impairing  the  obligation  of  contracts;  or  grant  any  title 
of  nobility."  The  power  to  levy  imposts  is  confined  to  provisions 
of  absolute  necessity  for  the  execution  of  inspection  laws.  States 
are  also  prohibited  from  maintaining  armed  vessels  or  a  standing 
army,  and  from  engaging  in  h*^--' "Cities,  except  in  cases  of  invasion 
or  imminent  danger. 

The  executive  power  is  vested  in  a  president,  who,  together  with 
a  vice-president,  is  chosen  for  four  years,  by  electors  from  all  the 
states,  equid  in  number  to  the  entire  representation  in  both  ho  ! 
of  congress.  These  electors  meet  in  their  several  states,  and  forw.  i 
returns  of  their  ballotings  to  the  federal  seat  of  government.  The 
votes  for  president  and  vice-president  are  taken  separately.  If  no 
candidate  has  a  majority  of  all  the  electoral  votes,  in  the  case  of 
president,  the  house  of  rcoresentatives,  voting  by  states,  elects  to  that 
office  one  of  the  three  ■  Ues  who  have  received  the  greatest 

number  of  votes.  On  failure  to  elect  a  vice-president,  the  senate 
makes  choice  from  the  two  highest  numbers  on  the  list. 

The  vice-president,  virtute  officii,  is  president  of  the  senate,  and 
upon  the  death  or  disability  of  the  president,  he  succeeds  to  his 
duties  and  resix>nsibilities.  In  case  of  further  lapse,  congress  has 
power  to  declare  upon  what  officer  the  presidency  shall  devolve. 


i 


i 


818 


TUB  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


^v 


1 


The  president  is  commander-in-chief  of  the  army  and  navy  of  the 
United  State*,  including  the  militia,  when  in  service  of  the  Union. 
He  may  grant  reprieves  or  pardons  for  offences  against  the  laws  of 
the  United  States.  With  the  concurrence  of  two-thirds  of  the  senate, 
he  is  empowered  to  make  treaties;  and  all  public  ministers,  judges 
of  the  supremo  court,  and  other  officials  of  the  United  States,  whose 
appointment  is  not  otherwise  provided  f  r,  are  chosen  by  the  senate 
ujKjn  his  nomination.  lie  may  fill  vacancies  in  the  senate,  occurring 
during  recess,  for  one  term  only.  lie  is  generally  charged  with  the 
exv  v^'  •  of  the  laws,  the  commission  of  officers,  and  the  reception 
of  foreign  am^^u^sadors. 

The  judicial  power  of  the  United  States  is  vested  in  one  supreme 
court,  and  in  courts  established  by  act  of  ■  ongross.  The  judges  of 
both  hold  office  during  good  behaviour.  Their  jurisdiction  extends 
to  all  cases  in  law  or  equity  arising  under  the  constitution,  or  the 
laws  of  the  United  States,  &c. ;  to  cases  affecting  foreign  ministers; 
to  matters  of  admiralty;  to  cases  where  tli*;  United  States  is  a  party; 
to  controversies  between  different  .states,  betwet  i  citizens  of  different 
states,  or  those  <'laiming  under  grants  of  different  states,  and  between 
citizens  and  foreign  states,  citizens  or  subjects.  The  original  juris- 
diction of  the  supreme  court  is  confined  to  cases  affecting  foreign 
ministers,  and  cases  whr .     ;t  state  is  a  party 

A  republican  government  is  guaranteed  '^  each  stat  and  the 
United  States  is  pledged  to  j)rotect  each  ol  .em  again.,!,  invasion 
and  domestic  violence.  Eacli  state  is  bound  t*..  give  full  faith  to 
the  public  acts  of  the  others,  and  to  accord  tj  J  privileges  with 
its  own  citizens  to  all  citizePF.  of  the  United  States.  Fn^/itives  from 
justice  are  to  be  delivered  up,  on  requisition  of  the  -  vocutive  of 
the  state  '.vhere  the  crime  has  been  committed:  those  '  held  to  ser- 
vice or  !  ihour  in  one  state,  under  tlie  laws  thereof,  escaping  into 
another,"  shall  be  restored  "on  claim  of  the  party  to  whom  such 
service  or  labour  may  be  due." 

Aiiicndm  uts  to  the  constitution  are  to  be  proposed  by  two-thirds 
of  bot';  houses  of  congres?',  or  by  a  convention  called  on  application 
f  r  ,*vo-thirds  of  the  stat"s,  to  be  ratified  by  the  legislatures  of  three- 
fourths  of  the  several  states,  or  by  conventions  in  three-fourths 
thereof,  according  to  the  decision  of  congress.  In  conclusion — debts 
of  the  old  confederation  are  assumed;  the  Uniteu  States  constitution 
and  laws  are  dt'chired  supreme;  and  an  oath  to  support  tlie  constitu- 
tion is  required  of  public  officers,  either  in  the  service  of  the  Unior. 


ip] 


.A, 


of  tf 


CUDS 


was  I 

accc 
lent  I 

to  ti 


the 


THE   UNITED   BTATE8. 


819 


or  of  individual  Btate«.  The  original  establishmei.  >r  ti.e  constitution 
WM  contingent  upon  it8  ratiflcjition  by  nine  statcH,  \ipon  which  event 
it  was  to  be  binding  "upon  the  states  ho  ratifying  the  same." 


bilArxiijii    il. 

RATIFICATION  OP  THR  CONSTITUTION  BY  THE  STATES,  —  WASH- 
INGTON ELECTED  PRESIDENT. — THE  FIRST  CONGRESS;  PRO- 
TI8I0NS  FOR  REVENUE:  FORMATION  OF  A  CABINET:  POWER 
OF     REMOVAL     FROM     OFFICE.  —  WASHINGTON'S     TOUR 
THROUGH     NEW     ENGLAND,  —  SECOND     SESSION    OF 
CONGRESS:     DEBATE     RESPECTING     THE     PUBLIC 
DEBT:   FOREIGN   LIABILITIES:  PUBLIC  CERTIFI- 
CATES:    ASSUMPTION   OF   STATE    DEBTS:    THE 
PUBLIC    DEBT    FUNDED:     MISCELLANEOUS 
ENACTMENTS- — CONSTITUTION    RATI- 
FIED BY  RHODE  ISLAND. 

The  new  constitution,  upon  its  reference  by  congress  to  conven- 
tions of  the  separate  states,  gave  rise  to  great  discussion  and  dispute. 
Two  political  parties  were  formed,  taking  issue  u()on  the  subject  of 
its  adoption;  those  in  favour  of  the  measure  received  the  title  of 
federalista.  However  great  might  be  the  disapproval  of  some  of  the 
details  of  the  new  system,  by  individual  states,  sections  or  parties, 
it  was  altogether  outweighed  by  a  perception  of  its  general  import- 
ance. This  is  sufficiently  manifest  from  the  circumstance  that  it 
received  unconditional  ratification  in  eleven  states  before  the  close 
of  the  following  summer.  North  Carolina  appended  conditions  to  an 
acceptance;  and  Rhode  Island,  as  she  had  taken  no  share  in  the 
constitutional  convention,  still  continued  recusant. 

Upon  a  meeting  of  the  presidential  electors,  George  Washington 
was  unanimously  elected  first  president  of  the  United  States.  lu 
accordance  with  the  original  provisions  of  the  constitution,  the  recip- 
ient of  the  next  highest  number  of  votes,  John  Adams,  was  elected 
to  the  office  of  vice-president. 

Some  delay  occurring  in  the  arrival  of  a  quorum  of  members  to 
the  first  congress  (the  city  of  New  York  being  the  place  of  session), 
Vol.  IV.— 49 


320 


THE  PEOPLE'S   BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


the  president  was  not  inaugurated  until  the  80th  of  April,  1789: 
the  fourth  of  the  month  preceding  had  been  appointed  for  this  pur- 
pose. In  the  full  flush  of  success  and  popularity,  with  all  eyes  turned 
upon  him  as  the  man  whose  firmness  and  political  integrity  fitted 
him  no  less  for  civil  office  than  for  military  command,  he  felt  great 
reluctance  at  entering  upon  this  new  sphere  of  duties. 

Immediately  upon  organization  of  congress,  the  business  of  provi- 
sion for  the  expenses  of  government,  and  for  the  payment  or  funding 
of  the  public  debt,  was  opened.  It  was  readily  penceived  that  the 
most  available  method  of  raising  revenue  was  by  the  imposition  of 
customs  upon  importations.  A  tonnage  duty  upon  foreign  vessels 
was  at  the  same  time  proposed  and  carried,  not  without  great  oppo- 
sition from  the  purely  agricultural  states,  who  were  jealous  of  a  pro- 
vision which  would  directly  protect  and  encourage  the  interests  of 
the  commercial  portion  of  the  Union,  at  the  same  time  producing,  as 
they  conceived,  an  injurious  effect  upon  the  price  of  freights.  An 
attempt  to  draw  a  distinction  between  those  European  nations  who 
had  previously  entered  into  commercial  arrangements  with  the 
United  States,  and  those  who  had  refused  so  to  do,  by  extending 
superior  privileges  to  the  commerce  of  the  former,  was  approved  in 
the  house,  but  defeavod  in  the  senate. 

The  operations  of  government  were  next  systematized  by  the  reg- 
ular oiganization  of  distinct  departments  for  the  management  of  the 
treasury,  of  state  affairs,  foreign  and  domestic,  and  of  war;  an 
arrangement  analagous  to  the  regular  European  cabinet  .sj'stein.  The 
first  incumbents  of  these  offices  were  Alexander  Hamilton,  Thomas 
Jefferson,  and  General  Henry  Knox.  John  Jay,  Franklin's  former 
colleague  in  diplomacy  at  the  French  court,  was  chosen  chief-justicie. 
An  important  prerogative,  upon  a  point  in  respect  to  which  the  con- 
stitution was  silent,  after  much  debate,  was  secured  to  the  president. 
This  consisted  in  the  power  to  remove  from  office,  without  action  of 
the  senate,  either  of  the  lieads  of  department,  and  other  officials 
whose  appointment  was  by  presidential  nomination. 

Upon  the  adjournment  of  congress,  towards  the  close  of  September, 
the  president  undertook  an  excursion  through  the  New  England 
states.  It  is  said  that  when  he  first  fon-^ook  the  retirement  of  private 
life  to  enter  upon  the  duties  of  his  office,  his  "j)rogress  from  iiisseat 
of  Mount  Vernon  to  I'liihulelphia  was  a  triiiinphant  proee.'^sion,  such 
aa  few  conquerors  have  known."  'i'hroiiLiiioMt  this  northern  tour  the 
popular  expression  of  admiration  and  giatitude  was  carried  to  un 


fui 
the! 


rnal 
Tlj 

strJ 


THE  UNITED  STATES. 


821 


extent  still  greater.  This  enthusiastic  reception  must  have  been  the 
more  grateful  to  Washington  from  the  consciousness  that  it  was  sim- 
ply a  tribute  to  the  acknowledged  worth  of  his  character  and  the 
value  of  his  public  services.  He  had  never  mingled  with  the  people 
upon  terms  of  familiarity :  of  a  reserved  and  dignified  demeanour, 
he  had  never  courted  popularity  by  any  of  the  arts  of  a  demagogue, 
nor  was  he  gifted  with  that  versatility  which  has  enabled  other  great 
men  to  secure  unbounded  personal  attachment  by  accommodating 
themselves  to  every  class  of  people  into  whose  society  they  might 
be  thrown. 

The  second  session  of  congress  was  held  in  the  month  of  January, 
1790.  During  the  recess,  North  Carolina  had  ratified  the  federal 
constitution,  and,  in  common  with  the  other  states,  had  ceded  to  the 
Union  her  claims  upon  a  great  extent  of  western  territory 

The  secretary  of  the  treasury,  Mr.  Hamilton,  on  the  opening  of 
congress,  made  a  written  report  upon  the  state  of  the  public  debt. 
Long  and  vehement  discussions  ensued,  a..d  the  subject  was  from 
time  to  time  postponed  and  resumed  throughout  a  period  of  six 
months.  Little  opposition  was  made  to  provisions  for  the  full  pay- 
ment of  foreign  debts,  amounting  to  about  twelve  millions  of  dollars; 
but  when  the  questions  arose  respecting  the  funding  of  the  depreci- 
ated certificates  of  debt  held  against  the  federal  government,  and  the 
assumption  of  liabilities  incurred  by  the  separate  states  in  carrying 
on  the  war,  a  vast  variety  of  opinion  was  found  to  exist. 

A  large  party  was  opposed  to  the  redemption  of  the  public  securi- 
ties at  a  rate  above  their  marketable  value,  being  what  the  holders 
had,  for  the  most  part,  paid  for  them,  and  which  was  now  less  than 
one-sixth  of  their  nominal  value.  The  principal  expenses  of  the 
wor  had  been  defrayed  by  the  issue  of  paper  money  to  the  amount 
of  ^wo  hundred  millions,  or  thereabout,  and  the  subsequent  redemp- 
tic  n  of  the  major  portion  of  it,  at  the  rate  of  forty  for  one.  It  was 
claimed  that  the  speculators  who  now  claimed  by  public  certificates 
r'iserved  no  better  terms  than  those  who  held  the  old  continental 
currency,  originally  forced  upon  its  holders  by  penal  enactments. 

The  idea  was  also  enlarged  upon  that  the  existence  of  a  great 
funded  debt  would  render  the  central  government  too  powerful  for 
the  interests  and  sovereignty  of  the  states,  by  making  its  support  a 
matter  of  pecuniary  interest  to  so  large  a  portion  of  the  population. 
The  party  styling  itself  republican,  in  opposition  to  the  federalists, 
strongly  maintained  this  ground  of  objection.     The  same  argument 


822 


THE   I'EOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


vras  urged  against  the  assumption  of  state  debts.  This  clause  of  the 
proposed  financial  arrangement  was  rejected  upon  the  first  trial  in 
the  house,  but  was  afterwards  carried,  as  we  are  led  to  believe,  by  a 
somewhat  corrupt  political  bargain.  The  votes  of  two  members 
were  changed  by  a  promised  arrangement  respecting  the  location  of 
the  future  seat  of  government,  which  was  fixed  for  ten  years  at  Phil- 
adelphia, and  thenceforth  at  some  spot  upon  the  Potomac — arrange- 
ments to  be  made  by  the  president  for  a  commission  to  decide  upon 
the  precise  spot. 

According  to  the  bill,  as  formerly  enacted,  a  loan  was  to  be  effected 
for  the  payment  of  the  foreign  debt  in  ful' ;  the  domestic  debt  was 
to  be  funded  by  the  receipt  of  subscriptions  in  certificates  at  their 
nominal  value,  and  in  old  Continental  bills  at  the  rate  of  one  hun- 
dred for  one  I  Certificates  for  arrearages  of  interest  were  to  be  re- 
newed by  others  bearing  three  per  cent,  interest;  those  for  the 
principal  being  entitled  to  six  per  cent.  The  debts  of  the  individual 
states  were  specifically  assumed,  to  the  amount  of  twenty-one  millions 
five  hundred  thousand  dollars;  for  which  a  loan  was  to  be  opened, 
receivable  in  state  certificates  for  debts  incurred  to  meet  the  expenses 
of  the  war,  or  directly  issued  for  services  during  hostilities. 

In  pursuance  of  constitutional  provisions,  congress,  at  this  session, 
passed  laws  regulating  the  naturalization  of  foreigners,  the  grant  of 
patents  and  copy-rights,  the  duties  and  privileges  of  seamen,  and  the 
manner  of  trading  and  negotiating  with  the  Indian  tribes.  Provi- 
sions were  also  made  for  establishing  regular  diplomatic  intercourse 
with  foreign  nations.  Various  crimes  against  the  United  States  were 
defined,  and  punishments  affixed  to  their  commission.  A  small 
standing  anny  was  organized,  and  specific  appropriations  were  made 
to  meet  all  necessary  civil  and  military  expenses  of  the  cur-ent  year. 

In  the  month  of  May,  Rhode  Island  had  finally  ratified  the  consti- 
tution, and  representatives  from  that  state  took  their  seata  in  coi.^ijresa 
dunug  the  session. 


Vy| 

ni^ 
im 

t"'\ 

nal 

off 
laj 

larl 


THE  UNITED  STATES. 


823 


CHAPTEH  HI. 


INDIAN   NEGOTIATIONS:    THE  CSEEKg:    THE  NORTH-WESTEHN 

TRIBES. HARMAR'S     UNSUCCESSFUL     CAMPAIGN, THIRD 

SESSION   OF  CONGRESS:    THE  EXCISE    LAW:    A    NATIONAL 
BANK. — oUTTLEMENT  OP    KENTUCKY:    ITS    ADMISSION 
TO  THE  UNION.  —  ADMISSION  OF  VERMONT. — SITE  OF 
THE     FEDERAL     CAPITOL. — THE     NORTH-WEST- 
ERN    INDIANS:     ST.     CLAIR'S     EXPEDITION; 
HIS     DISASTROUS     DEFEAT. — POLITICAL 
PARTIES. —  THE  CENSUS. 


Early  attempts  were  made,  under  authority  of  the  federal  gov- 
ernment, to  effect  amicable  arrangements  with  the  great  Indian  tribes 
of  the  west  and  south,  by  which  the  continued  disputes  between  them 
and  the  frontier  settlers  fiiight  be  set  at  rest.  Friendly  relations  were 
established  with  the  Creeks;  their  principal  chief,  M'Giilivray,  a  half- 
breed,  with  several  of  his  tribe,  was  escorted  to  New  York,  the 
temporary  capital,  for  the  purpose  of  concluding  terms  of  treaty. 
The  president  held  a  personal  conference  with  these  wild  warriors, 
who  departed  highly  satisfied  with  presents,  promised  annuities,  and 
guaranties  of  possession  in  their  lands.  The  concessions  accorded  to 
the  Indians  by  this  arrangement  gave  great  dissatisfaction  to  some  of 
the  inhabitants  of  Georgia. 

With  the  north-western  tribes  no  ariacgtments  could  be  made. 
Stimulated  bj"^  British  agents,  they  claimed  exclusive  right  to  all 
their  old  territories  north  of  the  Ohio.  They  still  retained  former 
feelings  of  hostility,  and  cherished  hopes  of  revenge  for  the  destruc- 
tion of  their  towns  on  the  Miami,  Old  and  New  Chilicothe,  Peccaway, 
Willis'  Towns,  &e.,  laid  waste  by^an  expedition  under  General  Clarke 
nine  years  previous.  In  the  autumn  of  1790,  more  than  a  thousand 
men,  under  General  Ilarmar,  were  dispatched  upon  an  Indian  cam- 
^jiign  in  the  north-western  territory.  In  every  skirmish  with  tlie 
nat'/es,  the  latter  had  the  advantage  from  their  superior  knowledge 
of  the  country.  They  avoided  any  general  engagement,  but,  by 
laying  ambuscades  for  detached  parties,  succeeded  in  cutting  off  a 
large  number  of  the  whites.    The  expedition  was  signally  unsuccessful. 

At  the  third  session  of  congress,  in  December,  1791,  one  of  the 


324 


THE   PEOPLE'S   iJOOK   OF   UISTOKY. 


earliest  subjects  of  debate  was  a  proposition  to  increase  the  revenue 
by  additional  duties  upon  spirituous  liquors,  and  by  the  establish- 
ment of  an  excise  upon  those  of  domestic  manufacture.  A  bill  for 
this  purpose  finally  passed — not  without  very  violent  opposition. 
Another,  and  more  important  source  of  contention,  was  the  institution 
of  a  national  bank.  This  was  strenuously  opposed,  both  upon 
grounds  of  public  policy,  and  the  alleged  defect  of  constitutional 
pover  in  congress  for  the  organization  of  such  an  establishment. 
The  measure  was  carried,  in  spite  of  all  opposition:  a  bank  was 
chartered,  with  a  capital  of  ten  millions  of  dollars,  one-fiflh  of  which 
was  to  be  subscribed  for  by  the  United  States.  Private  stockholders 
had  the  privilege  of  paylug  three-fourths  of  their  subscriptions  iu 
United  States'  stocks. 

The  only  further  proceedings  of  importance  during  the  session, 
were  the  adoption  of  resolutions  for  an  increase  of  the  army,  in 
anticipation  of  an  Indian  war,  and  the  admission  of  two  new  states 
into  the  Union.  The  settlement  of  Kentucky  had  been  commenced, 
not  long  before  the  breaking  out  of  the  revolutionary  war,  by  the 
bold  and  enterprising  pioneer,  Daniel  Boone,  who,  with  a  few  asso- 
ciates, allured  by  the  fertility  and  beauty  of  the  country,  had  ven- 
tured to  brave  the  dangers  of  an  isolated 'position  in  the  remote 
wilderness.  Indian  traders,  in  early  times,  reported  of  this  country, 
that  "No  Indians  dwelt  there,  but  the  various  tribes  made  it  their 
hunting-ground^  and  in  their  encounters,  waged  such  fierce  and 
desperate  battles,  that  the  whole  region  was  known  among  them  by 
the  name  of  'The  Dark  and  Bloody  Ground.'" 

Kentucky  had  increased  so  fust  in  population,  that  it  was  judged 
expedient,  both  by  the  inhabitants  and  by  the  legislature  of  Vir- 
ginia, in  the  territory  of  which  state  it  was  included,  that  the 
form:-  should  be  set  off  as  a  separate  state.  A  convention,  called 
for  the  consideration  of  the  question,  had  fixed  upon  the  1st  of  June, 
1792,  as  the  period  for  the  conimenceinunt  of  the  new  organization, 
contingent  upon  the  action  of  congress.  The  assent  of  the  latter  was 
given,  prospectively. 

Between  Vermont  and  New  York,  a  contention  of  some  standing 
had  existed.  The  latter  claimed  jurisdiction  over  the  former,  as 
included  within  her  own  territory ;  Vermont  resisted,  and  organized 
a  separate  government.  An  accommodation  was  effected  at  the 
lime  of  which  we  are  now  speaking,  and  Vermont  was  admitted  as 
a  new  state  on  the  18th  of  February  (1V31). 


I'  ■t^^  AiM.Vr'^llillllMflL^l 


THE  UNITED  STATES. 


825 


The  president,  in  the  course  of  the  spring,  made  an  excursion 
through  some  of  the  southern  states,  and,  on  his  route,  made  selection 
— in  accordance  with  provisions  before  mentioned — of  a  site  for  tha 
federal  capital.  A  city  was  laid  out,  for  this  purpose,  upon  a  grand 
scale,  and  much  speculative  enterprise  was  displayed  in  the  purchase 
of  lands  and  erection  of  buildings.  The  increase  of  the  city,  and, 
consequently,  of  the  value  of  property  within  its  extensive  limits, 
have  fallen  far  short  of  the  sanguine  expectations  of  its  founders. 
Great  commercial  facilities  can  alone  build  up  large  cities  in  a 
new  country. 

During  the  summer  of  this  year,  several  attempts  were  made  to 
check  the  depredations  of  the  Indians  on  the  Ohio,  but  nothing  was 
accomplished  further  than  the  destruction  of  a  few  villages  and  corn- 
fields. Expeditions  on  so  small  a  scale  only  served  to  irritate  the 
savages,  and  to  render  the  condition  of  the  frontier  more  unsafe. 

Upon  the  conclusion  of  peace  with  Great  Britain,  a  considerable 
portion  ol  the  Iroquois  retired  into  Canada,  where  lands  were  appro- 
priated to  their  use  on  Grand  river;  those  remaining  within  the 
limits  of  the  United  States,  by  solemn  treaty,  at  Fort  Stanwix,  ceded 
their  claims  in  eastern  New  York.  The  noted  Seneca  chief  and 
orator,  Eed- Jacket,  strenuously  opposed  this  treaty,  but  was  over- 
ruled by  the  influence  of  his  superior  in  age  and  authority,  O'Bail, 
or  Corn-Planter.  The  Six  Nations  continued  in  communication 
with  the  western  tribes,  and  were  generally  inimical  to  the  Amer- 
ican settlers. 

In  the  autumn  of  1791,  General  Arthui  St.  Clair,  with  more  than 
two  thousand  men,  marched  from  Fort  Washington,  the  site  of  the 
present  city  of  Cincinnati,  into  the  Indian  territory.  Having  estab- 
lished and  garrisoned  two  forts,  on  his  route,  he  encamped  filteen 
niibs  from  the  Indian  towns,  on  the  Miami,  on  the  3d  of  November. 
The  movements  of  the  army  had  been  slow,  and  the  confederate 
tribes  of  the  west — Hurons,  Potawatomies,  Ottawas,  Chippewos,  Mia- 
mies,  Delaware?,  Shawanees,  Iroquois,  and  others — under  the  guid- 
ance of  Michikinaqua  (Little  Turtle),  an^  an  is  supposed,  of  Joseph 
Brant,  had  full  opportunity  to  collect  their  warriors  and  form  their 
plans  for  defence. 

"Before  the  rising  of  the  sun,  on  the  following  day  (November 
4th),  the  savages  fell  upon  the  camp  of  the  whites.  Never  was  a 
more  decisive  victory  obtained.  In  vain  did  the  American  general 
and  his  ofHcers  exert  themselves  to  maintain  order,  and  to  rallv  the 


«?26 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


bewildered  troops.  The  Indians,  firing  from  covert,  thinned  the 
ranks,  and  picked  off  the  officers  by  a  continuous  and  murderous 
discharge.  A  disorderly  retreat  was  the  result:  artillery,  baggage, 
and  no  small  portion  of  the  arms  of  the  militia,  fell  into  tne  hands  of 
the  exultant  pursuers.  Fort  Jefferson  was  nearly  thirty  miles  dis- 
tant, and  thither  the  defeated  army  directed  its  flight.  The  Indians 
followed  close  upon  the  fugitives,  cutting  down  and  destroying  at 
will,  until,  as  is  reported,  one  of  their  chiefs  called  out  to  them  *to 
stop,  as  they  had  killed  enough.' 

"The  temptation  offered  by  the  plunder  to  be  obtained  at  the 
camp,  induced  the  Indians  to  return,  and  the  remnant  of  the  invading 
army  reached  Fort  Jefferson  about  sun-set.  The  loss,  in  this  battle, 
on  the  part  of  the  whites,  was  no  less  than  eight  hundred  and  ninety- 
four  in  killed,  wounded,  and  missing.  Thirty-eight  officers  and  five 
hundred  and  ninety-tliree  non-commissioned  officers  and  privates  were 
slain  or  missing.  The  Indians  lost  but  few  of  their  men— judging 
from  a  comparison  of  the  different  accounts,  not  much  over  fifty."* 

Upon  thi^  coming  together  of  congress,  in  October  of  1791,  the 
condition  of  Indian  affairs  was  brought  before  that  body,  and  repre- 
sentations of  the  necessity  for  an  increase  in  the  army  were  urged 
Party  spirit,  at  this  time,  was  growing  more  virulent;  the  republicans, 
at  the  head  of  w  hom  stood  Secretary  Jefferson,  eyed  the  movements 
of  the  federalists  with  great  suspicion,  continually  discovering  or 
imagining  a  tendency  towards  a  monarchical  system  in  all  their 
plans  and  operations.  Of  Hamilton,  secretary  of  the  treasury,  and 
leader  of  the  federal  party,  an  English  writer  observes:  "Each  step, 
indeed,  which  this  minister  took,  seemed  in  the  traces  of  British 
policy ;  and,  however  salutary  or  requisite  they  may  have  been,  he 
certainly  showed  little  caution  in  the  manner  of  adopting,  success- 
ively, the  several  parts  of  machinery  belonging  to  a  monarchical 
government." 

A  .strong  effort  was  made  at  this  session,  to  increase  the  number 
of  members  in  the  house  of  representatives,  by  including  in  the 
computation  of  population  the  fractional  remainder  which  existed  in 
each  state  after  a  division  by  thirty  thousand.  The  bill  passed  both 
houses,  but,  being  sent  back  with  objections,  by  the  president,  was 
reconsider :}d  and  lost.  The  census  returns  of  the  first  enumeration 
of  the  population,  exhibited  a  total  of  3,921,826,  of  which  nearly 
seven  hundred  thousand  were  slaves. 

•  Indian  Riici-a  of  Anu-rica. 


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THE  UNITED   STATES.  827 


(jJbiAriiijH    Iv. 

"'\8HINOT0N'8  SECOND  TERM:   HIS  DISINCLINATION  TO  OFFICE 
— THE   FRBNCH   REVOLUTION:    ITS  POLITICAL    INFLUENCE 
IN   THE   UNITED   STATES. ARRIVAL   OP   OENET,    AS  MIN- 
ISTER  OF   THE   FRENCH   REPUBLIC:   HIS   PROCEEDINGS  AT 
CHARLESTON.  —  NEUTRAL  POSITION   OF  THE  UNITED 

STATES. COMMERCIAL   RESTRICTIONS  BY  FRANCE 

AND   ENGLAND.  —  IMPRESSliENT   OF   AMERICAN 

SEAMEN. RETIREMENT    OF    JEFFERSON. — 

ALOERINE     DEPREDATIONS. 

ii.T  the  election  of  president  and  vice-president,  for  the  term  com- 
mencing in  March,  1793,  Washington  was  reelected  without  a  shadow 
of  opposition.  Ho  felt  great  disinclination  to  continue  longer  in 
office.,  and  only  consented  to  comply  with  the  wishes  of  *he  electors 
and  the  people,  for  the  purpo.sc  of  calming  the  turbul  ;nce  of  the 
great  political  parties.  His  high  character  and  popularity  could 
not  shield  Uivn  entirely  from  the  animr-^ versions  of  those  of  the 
republican  party  who  suspected  him  of  aristocratic  predilections.  It 
is  said  that,  on  one  invasion,  subsequent  to  his  reelection,  in  an  out- 
break of  feeling,  excited  by  some  personal  attack,  he  declared,  "that 
he  had  never  ix>pented  hut  once  the  having  slipped  the  moment  of 
)c-'igning  his  office,  and  that  was  every  moment  since;  that  by  God 
1  Had  rather  be  in  his  grave  than  in  his  present  situation ;  that  he 
h.ad  rather  be  on  his  farm  than  be  made  emperor  of  the  world;  and 
yet  that  they  were  charging  him  with  .wanting  to  be  a  king." 

Ill  opposition  to  Adams,  the  candidate  for  vice-president,  the 
republicans  set  up  George  Clinton:  the  federalists  obtained  the 
larger  vote.  This  defeat  aggravated  the  rancour  of  some  of  the 
lewling  liberals,  and  it  was  with  difficulty  that  the  influence  of  the 
piesident  could  calm  unseemly  strife  between  the  opposing  heads  of 
departments. 

At  this  period,  a  ne  y  and  important  element  in  the  political  con- 
trr  rersy  of  America,  arose  from  a  difference  in  feeling  and  sympathy 
excited  by  the  stormy  events  of  the  French  revolution.  It  became 
a  matter  of  deep  interest  to  inquire  how  far  the  United  States  should 


..•  *i 


828 


THE  PEOPLE'S    HOOK  0>     slSTORY. 


allow  themselves  to  bo  implicated  in  the  gencnu  agitation  which 
threatened  Europe.  One  of  the  first  questions  to  be  decided  was, 
what  force  did  a  tre  ;_;, .  concluded  with  the  king  of  Franco,  possess 
upon  the  overthrc.*^  ol  his  government,  and  under  the  rule  of  the 
republic.  Popular  enthusiasm  was  strongly  aroused  in  favour  of 
the  revolution,  a  feeling  not  to  bo  effectually  damped  by  intelligence 
of  the  bloodthirsty  fanaticism  which  was  exhibited  by  too  many  of 
its  supporters. 

The  arrival  at  Charleston  (in  the  month  of  April,  1793)  of  Genet, 
the  first  ambassador  commissioned  by  the  republic  to  negotiate  with 
the  United  States,  rendered  some  decisive  action  imperative.  After 
consultation  with  the  cabinet,  in  which  views  diametrically  opposite 
were  entertained  by  the  leaders  of  the  opposite  parties,  the  president 
issued  a  proclamation  of  neutrality,  expressly  forbidding  citizens 
of  the  United  States  to  fit  out  vessels  for  the  purpose  of  lend- 
ing aid  to  either  of  the  belligerent  nations,  or  in  any  other  manner 
to  take  share  in  hostilities  so  long  as  this  neutral  position  should  be 
maintained. 

The  French  minister  was  enthusiastically  received  at  Charleston, 
where  he  spent  some  time  in  the  preparation  of  two  cruisers,  to  the 
commanders  of  which  he  filled  out  commissions,  under  authority  of 
the  republic,  to  prey  upon  British  commerce.  After  this  high- 
handed proceeding,  Genet  travelled  by  land  to  Philadelphia,  wel- 
comed at  every  town,  on  his  passage,  by  the  most  flattering  exhibition 
of  popular  feeling.  His  conduct  at  Charleston,  after  a  cabinet 
consultation,  was  declared  illegal  by  government;  the  service  of 
American  citizens,  under  French  commissions,  was  pronounced  a 
public  offence;  and  restitution  was  ordered  of  prizes  taken  in  Amer- 
ican waters. 

So  far  was  the  French  minister  encouraged  by  the  sympathy  of 
the  powerful  republican  party,  that,  in  many  instances,  he  set  at 
nought  the  claims  and  decisions  distinctly  made  by  the  American 
government.  His  reception  by  the  president  was  courteous,  but  the 
avowed  neutrality  of  the  United  States  was  carefully  guarded  in  all 
diplomatic  intercourse.  Disinclination  to  break  with  an  old  and 
powerful  ally,  the  force  of  national  antipathies  and  predilections,  and 
the  influence  of  the  popular  feeling,  checked  that  exertion  of  execu- 
tive power  which  the  occasion  seemed  to  require.  Privateers  were 
fitted  out  at  various  ports  in  the  United  States;  numerous  prizes 
were  brought  in  openly,  and  condemned  by  the  decisions  of  the 


TUK    UNITED   STATES. 


829 


French  consuls,  mting  under  powers  granted  by  Genet,  on  behalf 
of  his  own  government. 

In  jne  case,  a  British  vessel,  the  Little  Sarah,  seized  by  the 
French  frigate  in  which  Geiul  had  first  come  over  from  France,  was 
fltl(  .1  (.ut  1.  ■<  a  pnvateer  at  Philudulphia,  and,  after  being  rSchristened, 
tl)f'  Litti  Democrat,  proceeded  to  sea,  notwitljstanding  a  promise, 
vjiiial  or  expressed,  on  the  part  ..f  that  minister,  that  she  should 
remain  until  the  claims  of  those  interested  in  the  vessel  uould  be 
Msted. 

government  moderately,  but  firmly,  persi'tvi'  :>    naintaining 
.J  position,  and  in  respecting  the  riglvis  ul    .xr.at  Britain, 
d  ti  J  close  of  the  summer,  guaranty  of  indemnit^y  was  formally 
tt  'ed  for  all  losses  by  British  owners  from  previous  illegal 

h  within  the  waters  of  the  United  States,  the  distance  thence- 

forth protected  being  fixed  at  one  league  from  shore,  and  including, 
of  course,  all  bays  and  harbours  within  the  federal  jurisdiction. 
The  French  government,  at  the  same  time,  was  required  to  give  up 
all  prizes  already  illegally  taken,  and  a  direct  requisition  was  made 
for  a  rScall  of  the  arrogant  Genet. 

The  violence  and  insolence  of  this  official  had  greatly  diminished 
the  popular  favour  which  greeted  him  on  his  first  arrival.  The 
wiser  and  more  far-sighted  politicians  looked  upon  him  as  a  danger- 
ous man;  his  course  of  conduct  tended  to  involve  the  states  in 
unnecessary  difficulties  with  England;  and  he  was,  undoubtedly, 
engaged  in  machinations  for  the  organization  of  expeditions  against 
the  Spanish  possessions  in  Louisiana  and  Florida.  Any  movement 
towards  the  effecting  of  a  free  exit  from  the  Mississippi  met  with 
great  favour  from  the  settlers  on  the  western  waters. 

To  add  to  other  difficulties  in  maintaining  a  position  of  neutrality, 
the  commerce  of  the  states  began  to  suffer  severely  from  the  effect 
of  regulations  instituted  both  by  France  and  England  respecting  the 
rights  of  neutrals  to  carry  on  trade  with  the  enemy.  By  the  law  of 
nations,  supplies  destined  for  a  blockaded  port  liiuy  be  liable  to 
seizure ;  but  the  declaration  that  all  the  ports  of  an  enemy  are  in  a 
state  of  blockade,  affords  but  a  shallow  excuse  for  the  plunder  of  a 
neutral  nation.  Against  Great  Britain  another  cause  of  complaint 
existed,  if  of  less  political  importance  than  this  interference  with 
trade,  yet  of  a  nature  to  excite  far  greater  bitterness  of  private  ani- 
mosity. This  was  the  continual  impressment  of  British  seamen, 
serving  on  board  of  American  vessels,  and — either  through  error  or 


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THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


pretended  mistake — the  seizure  of  Americans,  by  the  same  arbitraiy 
and  summary  powers.  It  is  fully  established  that  many  citizens  of 
the  states  were  subjected  to  this  indignity  and  outrage. 

Shortly  after  the  coming  together  of  congress  in  December,  1798, 
Jefferson  retired  from  ofl&ce,  and  was  succeeded  as  secretary  of  state 
by  Eandolph,  former  attorney-general.  A  report  upon  the  com- 
mercial relations  of  the  United  States,  carefully  prepared  by  the 
retiring  secretary,  and  exhibiting  his  political  views  respecting  the 
policy  to  be  pursued  towards  France  and  England,  was  submitted 
to  the  consideration  of  congress.  This  document  urged  a  discrimi- 
nation  in  favour  of  France,  and  met  with  the  more  favourable 
reception  in  consideration  of  both  real  and  fancied  aggressions  on 
the  part  of  England.  Among  other  grounds  of  dissatisfaction  the 
continuance  of  Indian  disturbances  at  the  north-west  was  prominent, 
these  being  attributed  to  the  influence  of  British  emissaries,  encour- 
aged by  the  Canadian  governors. 

The  first  important  action  of  congress  related  to  the  means  to  be 
adopted  for  opposing  a  check  upon  the  depredations  of  piratical 
cruisers  from  Algiers  and  other  portions  of  the  Barbary  states,  by 
which  the  navi<];ation  of  the  Mediterranean  was  rendered  unsafe,  and 
for  the  release  of  prisoners  taken  by  the  pirates,  and  still  held  in 
captivity.  A  considerable  sum  of  money  was  appropriated  for  the 
purpose  of  purchasing  terms  of  treaty,  while,  at  the  same  time,  in 
anticipation  of  a  failure  in  this  attempt,  congress  ordered  the  prepar- 
ation of  a  naval  armament  adequate  to  enforce  the  claims  of  the 
United  States. 


THE  UNITED  STATES.  831 


AMERICAN  P01ITIC8. DEBATE  IN  CONGRESS  UPON   FOREIGN 

RELATIONS. PURTHER  AGGRESSIONS  OP  ENGLAND — COM- 
MISSION   OF    JAY    AS    AMBASSADOR    EXTRAORDINARY    TO 

GREAT  BRITAIN. RELIEF  OF   IMMIGRANTS  FROM    ST. 

DOMINGO. — THE  NEUTRALITY  LAWS. — RESISTANCE 
TO  THE   EXCISE:   REBELLION   IN  WESTERN   PENN-      ' 
8YLTANIA:  ITS  FORCIBLE  SUPPRESSION:  OPIN* 
IONS  OF  THE  REPUBLICAN  PARTY. 

The  introduction,  by  Mr.  Madison,  of  resolutions  in  support  of 
tbe  views  entertained  in  Jeflferson's  report,  gave  rise  to  lengthy  and 
vehement  discussion.  The  two  great  parties  had  taken  issue  upon 
the  subject  of  the  policy  tu  be  pursued  towards  France  and  England : 
the  sympathy  of  the  democratic  republicans  was  exclusively  extended 
towards  the  former  nation,  while  the  federalists,  questioning  the  sta. 
bility  and  good  faith  of  the  new  republic,  were  anxious  to  avoid 
serious  collision  with  the  government  of  Great  Britain. 

Smith,  of  South  Carolina,  took  the  lead  of  the  opposition,  and 
argued  at  length  upon  the  futility  as  well  as  injustice  of  any  attempt 
at  governing  the  foreign  policy  of  England  by  a  discriminating  scale 
of  duties  and  tonnage.  The  resolutions,  by  virtue  of  which  the 
commerce  of  nations  under  no  commercial  treaty  with  the  United 
States  was  to  be  subjected  to  restrictions  or  burdens  not  extended 
to  others,  passed  by  a  small  majority.  They  were  avowedly  aimed 
at  the  trade  wiib  England.  "Of  the  efficacy  of  these  commercial 
restrictions,"  says  Mr.  Hildreth,  "as  a  means  of  coercing  Great  Brit- 
ain, Madison  and  his  party  entertained  very  extravagant  ideas,  of 
which  they  had  afterward  ample  opportunity  to  be  cured.  What, 
indeed,  could  be  more  extravagant  than  the  statement  that  Great 
Britain  imported  necessaries  from  us,  and  we  only  luxuries  from  her, 
repeated  over  and  over  again  by  the  representatives  of  a  state  whose 
chief  export  was  tobacco,  and  whose  imports  were  principally  cloth- 
ing, tools,  and  other  manufactured  articles  of  daily  use  and  necessity? 
In  all  these  commercial  struggles,  nothing  is  more  certain  tlinn  that 
the  richest  party  can  endure  the  longest,  and  is  sure  to  triumph  in 
the  end." 


332 


THE   PEOPLE'S   BOOK   OF   HISTORY. 


The  measures  adopted  against  Great  Britain  were  rendered  still 
more  popular  upon  the  arrival  of  intelligence  that  orders  had  been 
issued  by  the  admiralty  in  November  previous,  by  which  neutral 
trade  with  French  colonies  was  as  arbitrarily  dealt  with  as  that  with 
France  direct  It  was  also  reported  that  the  British  governor  of 
Lower  Canada,  Lord  Dorchester,  at  an  Indian  council,  had  delivered 
an  address  breathing  a  hostile  spirit  towards  the  United  States. 

The  anticipated  danger  was  met  by  appropriations — on  rather  a 
small  scale,  considering  the  supposed  necessities  of  the  case — for  for- 
tifying various  sea-ports,  and  for  organization  and  training  of  the 
militia. .  A  temporary  embargo  was  also  decided  upon.  So  strong 
was  the  hostile  feeling,  that  a  motion  was  made,  and  warmly  urged, 
for  the  sequestration  of  debts  due  to  British  creditors,  for  tlie  pur- 
pose of  applying  them  to  indemnify  those  who  had  sustained  losses 
by  seizure  of  property  under  the  obnoxious  laws  restraining  neutral 
trade.  It  was  also  proposed  that  all  trade  with  Great  Britain  should 
cease  until  reparation  should  be  made  for  these  illegal  seizures,  and 
until  an  evacuation  of  the  western  military  posts  should  be  ordered. 

The  English  ministry,  on  the  other  hand,  seemed  to  incline  to 
pacific  and  conciliatory  measures,  being  "too  fully  and  deeply  occu- 
pied with  treasons  at  home,  and  the  menace  of  invasion  from  abroad, 
to  answer  this  waspishness  of  America  in  a  similar  tone.  On  the 
contrary,  the  last  obnoxious  order  of  the  admiralty  was  recalled,  and 
the  federal  party  were  able  to  rally,  and  entertain  hoptis  of  avoiding 
a  rupture." 

Washington  anxious  to  preserve  peaceable  relations  with 

Great  Britain,  and,  foreseeing  the  possible  results  of  heated  and 
angry  debate  in  congress,  with  the  recurrence  of  successive  hostile 
enactments  passed  upon  the  spur  of  the  occasion,  and  insufliciently 
digudted,  he  fixed  upon  a  plan  to  set  the  matter  temporarily  at  rest. 
In  the  month  of  April,  1794,  he  proposed  to  the  senate  the  appoint- 
ment of  a  minister  extraordinary,  empowered  to  negotiate  for  the 
settlement  of  all  existing  diffictilties  with  England,  and  nominated, 
for  this  mission,  Chief-Justice  Jay.  The  nomination  was  confirmed. 
hy  a  very  close  vote. 

These  were  times  of  great  political   excitement.     Every  arrival 
from  Europe  brought  news  re|)lete  with  interest,  and  having  a  bear- 
ing upon  American  i)olitics  more  direct  than  we  can  well  appreciate 
at  thj  present  time.     The  more  violent  of  the  republican  party  itni 
itated  tlie  French  organization  of  pcjlitical  clubs,  and  in  the  midst 


Tr 


THE  UNITED  STATES. 


833 


of  the  "Reign  of  Terror,"  were  so  far  blinded  by  party  zeal  as  to 
rejoice  over  intelligence  of  proceedings  which,  if  brought  nearer 
home,  would  have  excited  unmingled  horror  and  disgust.  Others, 
more  moderate,  yet  with  equal  sympathy  for  a  nation  involved  like 
our  own,  in  a  strife  between  the  people  and  their  hereditary  tyrants, 
lamented  over  the  violence  which  by  reaction  must  eventually  pre- 
judice the  cause  of  liberty  and  of  equal  rights. 

la  anticipation  of  conquest  by  the  English,  the  French  officials  at 
St  Domingo  had  issued  a  proclamation  by  which  the  slaves  on  that 
island  were  set  free.  The  country  became  generally  unsafe  for 
whites,  and  many,  abandoning  all  their  effects,  sailed  for  the  United 
States.  A  bill  introduced  for  the  relief  of  these  unfortunate  immi- 
grants called  forth  much  argument  upon  the  constitutional  limits  of 
the  power  of  congress.  No  authority  can  be  discovered  in  the  con- 
stitution for  any  appropriation  for  mere  purposes  of  charity,  except 
by  a  forced  implication  under  the  general  provisions  for  foreign 
intercourse.  The  measure  was,  notwithstanding,  carried,  by  virtue 
of  its  popularity,  and  has  formed  a  precedent  acted  upon  at  a  much 
later  period,  upon  the  occasion  of  the  famine  in  Ireland.  Fifteen 
thousand  dollars  were  appropriated  for  the  relief  of  the  French 
immigrants. 

Another  act,  passed  at  this  session,  of  great  present  interest,  was 
called  forth  by  the  continued  efforts  of  French  agents  to  organize 
expeditions  against  the  Spanish  possessions  of  Louisiana.  The 
anxiety  of  the  western  settlers  to  obtain  possession  of  the  Mississippi 
rendered  it  an  easy  matter  to  collect  adventurers  upon  such  an  enter- 
prise, if  winked  at  by  government.  A  bill  to  restrain  American 
citizens  from  engaging  in  hostilities  with  friendly  nations  passed 
both  houses  early  in  June.  A  fine  of  one  thousand  dollars  and  three 
years'  imprisonment  were  made  the  penalty  for  entrance  into  foreign 
military  service  by  any  persons  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  United 
States.  This  provision  was  specially  aimed  at  those  who  should 
unlawfully  enlist  recruits;  the  penalty  awarded  against  those  whom 
they  had  seduced  from  allegiance  being  remitted  upon  conviction  of 
the  former,  consequent  on  their  information. 

The  equipment  of  vessels,  and  the  organization  of  expeditions 
within  the  United  States,  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  on  hostilities 
against  any  country  at  peace  with  the  confederation,  subjected  the 
ofteridcr  to  a  still  heavier  fine,  with  the  same  term  of  imprisonment. 
To  secure  promptitude  in  the  suppression  of  such  unlawful  enter- 


334 


TU£  PEOPLE'S   BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


prise,  the  president  was  expressly  authorized  to  exert  his  powers  as 
commander-in-chief  of  the  military  forces  of  the  United  States,  and 
in  case  of  necessity  to  call  out  the  militia. 

A  serious  civil  disturbance  took  place  in  western  Pennsylvania 
during  the  summer.  The  law  imposing  excise  duties  on  spirituous 
liquors  of  domestic  manufacture  had  been,  from  the  first,  particularly 
obnoxious  in  this  section  of  the  country,  the  difficulty  of  getting 
grain  to  market  rendering  its  consumption  for  purposes  of  distil- 
lation a  matter  of  great  convenience  and  profit.  Process  being 
issued  against  certain  distillers  who  had  neglected  to  conform  to  the 
provisions  of  the  act,  the  civil  officials  were  resisted,  and  the 
rioters,  adopting  an  offensive  attitude,  assailed  the  house  of  the 
inspector. 

The  spirit  of  insurrection  rapidly  spread  throughout  the  western 
counties,  and  the  people,  inflamed  by  the  speeches  and  influence  of 
demagogues,  set  the  laws  at  defiance,  maltreated  its  officers,  and  held 
public  meetings  for  organizing  a  regular  system  of  resistance.  The 
mails  were  intercepted  to  cut  off  communication  with  the  seat  of 
government,  and  the  friends  of  order  and  obedience  to  the  laws  wer6 
completely  overawed  in  all  the  disaffected  districts. 

The  leaders  of  this  insurrection  became  the  more  insolent  and 
exacting  from  the  mild  measures  at  first  resorted  to  for  allaying  the 
tumult,  and  the  president  found  it  necessary  to  exert  his  constitu- 
tional powers  for  the  support  of  the  laws.  A  requisition  was  made  for 
fifteen  thousand  militia,  from  Pennsylvania  and  the  adjoining  states: 
an  overpowering  force  was  marched  into  the  western  counties,  and 
every  symptom  of' rebellion  speedily  disappeared.  Those  who  had 
taken  the  most  active  part  in  the  outbreak  made  their  escape:  many 
arrests  were  made,  but  great  leniency  was  exhibited  towards  the  few 
found  guilty  upon  trial. 

It  was  the  o[)inion  of  the  republican  party  in  general,  that  this 
demonstration  was  uncalled  for  by  the  exigency  of  the  circumstances. 
Jefferson,  in  a  letter,  says  of  the  doings  of  the  rebels:  "  We  know  of 
none  which,  according  to  the  definilions  of  the  law,  have  been  any 
thing  more  than  riotous.  *  *  The  information  of  our  militia 
returned  from  the  westward  is  uniform,  that,  though  the  people  there 
let  them  pass  quietly,  they  were  objects  of  their  laughter,  not  of  their 
fear;  that  one  thousand  men  could  have  cut  off  their  whole  force  in 
a  thousand  places  of  the  Alleghany ;  that  their  detestation  of  the 
cxcidc  law  is  universal,  and  has  now  associated  to  it  a  detestation  of 


THE  UNITED  STATES. 


885 


the  government;  and  that  separation,  which,  perhaps,  was  a  very 
distant  and  problematical  event,  is  now  near,  and  certain,  and  deter- 
mined in  the  mind  of  every  man." 


LliAriJiiil    vl. 


|m 
Ihe 
lof 


GENERAL  WAYNE'S  CAMPAIGN  AGAINST  THE  NORTH-WESTERN 
INDIANS.  —  DEFEAT  OF  THE  CONFEDERATE  TRIBES  AT  THE 
MIAMI   RAPIDS. — NATURALIZATION   LAWS.  —  THE   DEMO- 
CRATIC    CLUBS. — HAMILTON'S     RESIGNATION. — THE 
BRITISH  TREATY:  ITS  RATIFICATION:   POPULAR  IN- 
DIGNATION.— RANDOLPH'S  RESIGNATION 

The  north-western  Indians,  unmolested  by  any  important  military 
expedition  since  their  signal  victory  over  St.  Clair,  had  grown  con- 
tinually more  insolent  and  exacting  in  their  demands.  The  progress 
of  western  settlements  was  impeded  by  savage  inroads:  the  natives 
considered  all  white  emigrants  from  the  east  as  encroachers,  and, 
rendered  confident  by  late  successes,  seemed  rather  to  court  hostili- 
ties. It  finally  became  essential  to  oppose  a  forcible  check  to 
their  ravages.  To  guard  against  the  possibility  of  a  second  defeat, 
the  campaign  of  1794  was  preceded  by  the  fortification  of  military 
posts  at  Greenville,  on  the  Miami,  and  at  the  spot  rendered  memora- 
ble by  St.  Clair's  defeat.    The  latter  was  named  Fort  Recovery. 

The  preceding  winter  and  spring  were  occupied  in  these  works, 
and  in  the  collection  of  an  army,  the  command  of  which  was  be- 
stowed upon  General  Wayne.  On  the  80th  of  June,  1794,  the 
strength  of  the  position  at  Fort  Recovery  was  tested  by  a  fierce 
attack  on  the  part  of  the  Indians,  assisted  by  a  number  of  whites — 
English  or  Canadians.  The  place  was  successfully  defended,  al- 
though not  without  heavy  loss. 

In  the  month  of  August  active  operations  were  commenced. 
"When  the  army  was  once  put  in  motion,  important  and  decisive 
events  rapidly  succeeded.  The  march  was  directed  into  the  heart  of 
the  Indian  settlements  on  the  Miami,  now  called  Maumee,  a  river 
emptying  into  the  western  extremity  of  Lake  Erie.  Where  the 
beautiful  stream  Au  Glaise  empties  into  the  river,  a  fort  was  imme- 
Vol.  IV.— 50 


386 


THE  FEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTORT. 


diately  erected,  and  named  Fort  Defiance.  From  this  post  General 
Wayne  sent  emissaries  to  invite  the  hostile  nations  to  negotiation, 
but  the  pride  and  rancour  of  the  Indians  prevented  any  favourable 
results.  Little  Turtle,  indeed,  seemed  to  forebode  the  impending 
storm,  and  advised  the  acceptance  of  the  terms  offered.  'The 
Americans,'  said  he,  'are  now  led  by  a  chief  who  never  sleeps:  the 
night  and  the  day  are  alike  to  him.  *  *  Think  well  of  it 
There  is  .something  whispers  me  it  would  be  prudent  to  listen  to  his 
offers  of  peace.'"*  Wayne  was  commonly  called  by  the  Indians 
the  "Black  Snake:"  another  aoubriquet^  bestowed  upon  him  by  his 
own  followers,  was  that  of  "Mad  Anthony." 

The  American  camp  was  posted  in  the  midst  of  such  extensive 
and  highly  cultivated  fields  of  com  as  excited  the  admiration  and 
astonishment  of  the  invaders.  The  country  "presented  for  miles 
the  appearance  of  a  single  village,  and  rich  corn-fields  spread  on 
either  side,"  The  Indians  had  retreated  down  the  river  from  their 
settlement,  upon  the  advance  of  the  army,  and  had  taken  up  a 
position  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  a  British  fort,  near  the  Miami 
rapids.  This  was  one  of  those  posts  retained  by  Great  Britain  in 
defiance  of  former  treaties,  and  constituted,  as  was  generally  be- 
lieved, a  d^pdt  where  the  Indians  could  procure  arms  and  counsel, 
if  not  direct  assistance. 

General  Wayne  attacked  the  enemy  in  their  position,  on  the  20th 
of  August  The  Indians  fought  bravely :  skilled  in  the  use  of  fire- 
arms, and  somewhat  familiar  with  the  tactics  of  modern  warfare, 
they  were  far  different  opponents  from  what  they  had  been  in  earlier 
times.  Their  array,  however,  was  broken  by  a  charge  of  bayonets, 
and  an  entire  rout  ensued.  The  powerful  confederacy  was,  for  the 
time,  annihilated;  and  the  Americans,  retracing  their  steps,  spent 
some  time  in  laying  waste  the  fields  and  settlements  of  the  wretched 
savages.  Garrisons  were  posted  at  the  forts  within  the  Indian  dis- 
tricts, and  the  army  retired  to  Greenville  for  winter-quarters. 

The  more  important  proceedings  of  congress,  at  the  winter  session 
of  1794-5,  related  to  the  naturalization  laws — which  were  estab- 
lished as  at  present,  requiring  five  years'  residence  in  the  United 
States,  a  declartfion  of  intention  three  years  previous  to  the  final 
ftpf^iMtioi^nd  one  years'  residence  in  the  state  where  the  petition 
is  glinted; — and  the  establishment  of  a  system  for  the  appropria- 
tion of  surplus  revenue  for  the  reduction  of  the  national  debt 

*  Indian  Rueea  of  America. 


fere 


THE  UNITED  BTATEB. 


887 


A  lengthy  and  excited  debate  arose  early  in  tbe  session,  upon  the 
question  as  to  what  aotion  should  be  taken  in  reply  to  certain  re- 
marks in  a  message  of  the  president,  relative  to  the  democratic 
clubs.  In  adverting  to  the  circumstances  attendant  upon  the  excise 
tumults,  Washington  alluded  to  these  associations,  as  "self-created 
societies,"  whose  influence  had  been  perniciously  extended  in  oppo- 
sition Xo  the  power  and  authority  of  government.  The  senate 
concurred  in  this  denunciation ;  the  house  of  representatives  com- 
promised the  matter  in  dispute  by  a  general  resolution,  condemning 
the  action  of  individuals  or  societies,  which  should  have  resulted  in 
misrepresentations  of  the  proceedings  of  government,  or  have  coun- 
tenanced resistance  to  lawful  authority. 

It  was  at  this  session  that  Alexander  Hamilton  resigned  his  office 
as  secretary  of  the  treasury,  and  General  Knox  that  of  secretary  of 
wai".  Oliver  Wolcott,  an  officer  connected  with  the  treasury  departs 
ment,  succeeded  the  former ;  the  place  of  the  latter  was  occupied  by 
Timothy  Pickering,  former  post-master  general.  It  is  said  that  the 
principal  motive  for  retirement,  on  the  part  of  both  these  distin- 
guished officials,  was  pecuniary  necessity,  the  pay  awarded  for  their 
public  services  being  grossly  inadequate. 

A  special  session  of  the  senate  was  called  early  in  June,  1795,  to 
deliberate  upon  a  treaty  recently  arranged  between  Jay,  the  Ameri- 
can ambassador  extraordinary,  and  the  British  minister.  Lord  Gren- 
ville.  Great  Britain,  it  was  found,  would  consent  to  few  concessions; 
the  most  objectionable  of  her  claims  were  still  insisted  upon,  or  left 
open ;  and  the  commercial  privileges  yielded  to  America  were  gen- 
erally accompanied  by  onerous  restrictions  or  conditions.  She  agreed 
to  give  up  posse'  /ii  of  the  western  posts  upon  security  for  payment 
of  debts  due  to  Bri  ish  subjects  before  the  revolution.  A  reciprocal 
agreement  provided  for  indemnity  in  all  cases  of  illegal  seizures. 

With  respect  to  freedom  of  commerce,  the  right  to  trade  with  the 
British  West  Indies  was  restricted  to  vessels  not  exceeding  seventy 
tons  measurement,  a  privilege  counterbalanced  by  a  prohibition  of 
any  exportation  of  articles  similar  to  those  produced  in  those  colo- 
nies, from  America  to  Europe.  A  wide  discretion  was  still  claimed 
respecting  the  right  to  seize  supplies  destined  for  any  country  with 
which  England  should  be  engaged  in  hostilities.  Su(A  articles  as 
were  not  clearly  **  contraband  of  war,"  were,  it  is  true,  to  be  paid  for 
if  seized.  No  indemnity  could  be  procured  for  those  who  had  suf- 
fered loss  from  the  abduction  of  slaves  by  the  British  during  the 


888 


TU£   PEOPLE'S   BOOK   Of   UlSTOBY. 


war;  and  the  right  to  impress  subjects  of  the  king,  if  found  on 
board  American  vessels,  was  insisted  upon,  and  remained  undecided. 
Goods  belonging  to  an  enemy  were  still  claimed  by  England  to  bo 
liable  to  seizure  on  board  the  vessels  of  a  neutral. 

The  treaty  was  approved  by  a  two-thirds  vote  of  the  senate,  (ob- 
jection being  taken  to  the  article  relating  to  the  West  India  trade, 
upon  which  action  was  suspended,)  and  received  the  ratification  of 
the  president  on  the  14th  day  of  August,  notwithstanding  a  storm 
of  popular  indignation,  which  had  broken  out  upon  its  publication. 
The  terms  agreed  upon  fell  so  far  short  of  the  expectations  or  wishes 
of  the  people,  that  meetings  were  every  where  held,  and  violent 
denunciatory  resolutions  passed.  A  memorial  accompanied  the  rat- 
ification, protesting  against  the  claim,  enforced  by  recent  orders  of 
admiralty,  respecting  the  indiscriminate  seizure  of  provisions  which 
might  be  destined  for  the  relief  of  an  enemy. 

At  this  time,  certain  private  communications  between  Mr.  Ed- 
mund Randolph,  the  secretary  of  state,  and  Fauchet,  the  successor 
of  Genet  as  ambassador  from  France,  having  come  to  the  knowledge 
of  the  British  government  by  an  intercepted  dispatch,  had  been  made 
known  to  the  president.  The  tendency  of  these  disclosures  was  to 
reflect  upon  the  secretary  an  imputation  of  double-dealing,  and  of 
some  unwarrantable  propositions.  He  accordingly  resigned  his  office, 
at  the  same  time  entering  into  an  elaborate  defence  of  his  conduct, 
and  indignantly  denying  the  validity  of  conclusions  adopted  by  his 
political  opponents.  A  discussion  of  the  merits  of  the  case  is  en- 
tirely beyond  our  limits,  and  it  may,  indeed,  be  doubted  whether 
we  have  means  for  arriving  at  a  determinate  opinion  respecting 
the  affair. 


^       * 


tn 


THE    UNITED   STATES. 


889 


CHATTER   VII. 


INDIAN    TREATY     AT     PORT    GREENVILLE. — TREATIES  WITH 

AL0IBR8  AND  SPAIN:   THE  MISSISSIPPI  OPENED  TO  AMERICAN 

TRADE. — DEBATE    IN    CONGRESS    UPON    JAY'S  BRITISH 

.TREATY. — TENNESSEE   ADMITTED  INTO  THE  UNION. 

— FRENCH    PROCEEDINGS    IN    RESPECT    TO    THE 

TREATY. — AMERICAN  MINISTERS  TO  PRANCE. 

—  WASHINGTON'S  RETIREMENT  PROM  OF- 

PICB:    SLANDERS   UPON   HIS  CHARACTER. 

'    — JOHN  ADAMS  ELECTED  PRESIDENT. 


The  Indians  of  the  north-west,  finally  convinced  of  the  superior 
power  of  the  United  States,  and  learning  that  their  old  allies,  the 
British,  were  about  to  evacuate  the  western  military  posts,  expressed 
a  willingness  to  treat  pacifically.  A  great  meeting  was  brought 
about  at  Fort  Greenville  at  the  beginning  of  August,  1795,  at  which 
General  Wayne,  on  behalf  of  the  United  States,  entered  into  a  defi- 
nite agreement  with  the  principal  chiefs  respecting  future  bounda- 
ries, &c.  The  Indians  gave  up  all  claim  to  an  immense  tract  included 
in  the  present  state  of  Ohio,  together  with  other  lands  farther  west.-. 

Before  the  next  session  of  congress  very  important  treaties  were 
also  negotiated  with  the  Dey  of  Algiers,  and  with  the  Spanish  gov- 
ernment. In  common  with  several  European  nations,  the  United 
States  submitted  to  the  disgraceful  imposition  of  a  heavy  tribute, 
in  order  to  secure  safety  for  her  commerce  from  the  attacks  of  the 
Algerine  corsairs,  and  for  the  release  of  prisoners  still  held  in  cap- 
tivity, victims  of  former  piracies.  With  Spain  more  honourable 
arrangements  were  established.  The  boundaries  of  her  provinces 
of  Florida  and  Loui.<«iana  were  assigned,  and  free  navigation  through- 
out the  Mississippi  was  secured  to  the  citizens  of  the  United  States. 

These  several  treaties  having  been  ratified  by  the  senate  and 
president,  together  with  that  concluded  with  Great  Britain,  were 
brought  before  the  house  of  reprepentatives,  at  its  winter  session, 
for  the  purpo,se  of  such  action  being  taken,  and  such  appropriations 
made,  as  should  give  them  full  effect.  Those  relating  to  Indian 
affairs,  Algiers,  and  Spain,  were  readily  disposed  of:  the  English 
treaty  called  forth  all  the  fury  of  the  opposition.     A  previous  refnpal 


840 


TUK  I'KUPLI'I  BOOK  OF  HIBTOBT. 


by  the  pr^ident,  on  grounds  of  public  policy,  upon  «  call  from  tho 
house,  to  lay  before  that  body  the  diplomatic  correapondenoe,  &c., 
relative  to  this  treaty,  had  a  tendency  to  aggravate  party  violence. 

The  question  was  debated  from  April  16th,  1796,  until  the  close 
of  the  month.  The  whole  effect  of  treaties;  whether  they  became 
binding  when  ratified,  or  wiiether  concurrence  of  the  house  by 
necessary  appropriations  was  requisite  before  the  national  faith  could 
be  considered  pledged;  and  an  application  of  general  prinoiplos 
to  this  particular  treaty,  formed  abundant  theme  for  argument  and 
declamation.  A  compromise  was  finally  effected,  by  a  passage  of 
the  appropriations,  as  being  a  matter  of  present  expediency,  without 
any  decision  of  the  general  position  in  dispute. 

On  the  Ist  of  June,  just  at  the  close  of  the  session,' the  state  of 
Tennessee  was  admitted  into  the  Union.  The  population  of  that  ter* 
ritory  already  amounted  to  about  eighty  thousand,  including  negroes. 

The  conclusion  of  Jay's  British  treaty  excited  great  dissatisfaction 
in  France.  Tho  Directory,  indignant  that  America  should  have 
yielded  to  the  British  claims  res^^ecting  the  seizure  of  French  prop* 
erty  on  board  neutral  vessels,  declared  that  France  was  no  longer 
bound  by  the  stipulations  of  her  former  treaty  with  the  United 
States,  and,  on  the  2d  of  July,  1796,  an  order  was  promulgated, 
"authorizing  the  ships-of-war  of  the  republic  to  treat  neutral  vessels 
in  the  same  manner  in  which  they  suflfered  themselves  to  be  treated 
by  the  English." 

Great  numbers  of  American  vessels  were  seized  and  confiscated 
under  this  decree.  Mr.  Monroe,  minister  to  France,  at  this  period 
was  a  member  of  the  republican  party,  and,  as  such,  warmly  fa- 
voured the  interests  of  that  nation,  lie  had  met  with  un  enthusiastic 
reception,  and,  tli rough  liitn,  a  formal  exchange  of  flags  had  been 
eft'ected  between  France  and  the  United  States,  as  a  token  of  mutual 
respect  and  amity.  With  the  intention  of  adopting  a  stronger  tone 
towards  tho  government  of  the  republic,  Washington  appointod 
Charles  C.  Pinckncy  of  Soiiih  Ciiroliiia,  in  place  of  Monroe.  The 
new  envoy  sailed  for  France  in  September. 

As  the  period  of  his  H<-e<>nd  term  of  ofRce  approached.  President 
Washington,  in  a  farewell  address,  announced  his  determination  to 
retire  from  public  life.  This  valedictory  wiis  issued  in  the  month 
of  September,  179H.  Tliroughoiit  liis  administration  his  conduct 
had  been  marked  by  rirmiie.s.s  and  integrity;  but  his  leaning  towards 
the  principles  of  the  fuderalisLH  was  un  unpardonable  sin  in  the 


THE    UNITED   STATES. 


841 


opinion  of  too  many  of  the  opponition.  Every  species  of  abuse  had 
been  heaped  upon  him  by  ranters  in  the  republican  party;  ambitious 
personal  views,  disregard  for  popular  rights,  a  tyrannical  disposition, 
and  even  peculations  upon  the  public  funds,  were  attributed  to  him. 
The  grossest  misrepresentations  reflecting  upon  his  character  were 
circulated ;  his  enemies  did  not  even  scruple  at  the  publication  of 
forged  letters  for  the  purpose  of  alienating  the  affection  and  respect 
of  the  people  fVom  their  former  idol. 

Time  baa  exposed  these  falsehoods,  and  the  vituperation  of  polit- 
ical opponents  is  forgotten.  The  acrimony  of  party  zeal  has  ceased 
to  blind  men's  minds  to  the  true  character  of  Washington ;  no  man 
in  public  life  has  left  behind  him  a  more  unblemished  reputation, 
and  few  have  attained  equal  eminence  as  a  commander  and  a 
statesman.  ;.   ,„,,„. 

At  the  second  presidential  election,  the  great  political  parties  put 
forward,  as  their  respective  candidates,  John  Adams  and  Thomas 
Jefferson.  Seventy  votes  .  ;3re  necessary  to  a  choice;  Adams  re- 
ceived seventy -one,  and  the  republican  candidate  sixty-nine  by  virtue 
of  which  he  entered  upon  the  office  of  vice-president  The  inaugu- 
ration took  place  in  the  9th  of  March,  1797.  Washington  retired 
to  his  estate  at  Mount  Vernon,  where  he  passed  the  remainder 
of  his  life. 


TRIATMKNT  OP   DNTTBD  STATBS'  AMBASSADORS  IN  7RAKC1.- 

H08TILE   PREPARATIONS  IN  AMERICA.  —  NBW   BMJAS8T:   Rl- 

FU8AL  OF   THB  DIRECTORY   TO    RECEIVE  THB  AMERIOAI 

MINISTERS.  —  NEGOTIATIONS    WITH    TALLEYRAND. — 

IXTRAVAOANT   DEMANDS  AND   INJURIOUS  DECREES  Of 

THE  DIRECTORY. —  RETURN  OF  THE  AMBASSADORS. — 

ACTION  OF  CONORESS:   MILITARY  PRBPARATIONS: 

ALIBN  AND  SEDITION  LAWS:  LAND-TAX,  ETC. 


The  administration  of  Mr.  Adams  opened  with  serious  and  per- 
plexing difficulties  connected  with  our  relations  towards  France. 
Soon  after  the  inauguration,  dispatches  arrived  from  Pinckr.ey, 
setting  forth  the  injurious  reception  that  he  had  met  with  on  the 


842 


THE  PEOPLE  8  BOOK  OF  HI8T0BY. 


part  of  the  Directory.  Monroe,  upon  presentation  of  his  own  letters 
of  recall,  and  those  relative  to  the  new  appointment,  was  notified 
that  France  would  receive  no  other  ambaHsador  from  the  United 
States  until  redress  should  be  made  for  the  grievances  before  com- 
plained of  as  connected  with  the  British  treaty. 

The  retiring  minister,  at  his  Inst  audience,  was  dismissed  by  the 
president,  Barras,  in  a  speech  ns  flattering  to  him  as  insulting  to  his 
country.  Pinckney  could  not  even  obtain  a  necessary  protection 
for  continuing  in  the  country  until  further  orders  from  home.  He 
was  compelled  to  leave  France,  and  proceeded,  accordingly,  to 
Holland. 

The  late  astonishing  successes  which  had  attended  her  arms  upon 
the  continent,  caused  the  existing  government  of  France  to  under- 
value the  importance  of  preserving  friendly  relations  with  the 
American  republic;  and  the  tone  adopted  by  the  Directory  was  of 
a  character  calculated  to  strengthen  the  federal  party  in  the  states. 
New  and  offensive  decrees  relative  to  American  commerce  speedily 
followed. 

President  Adams,  in  a  forcible  address  to  congress,  set  forth  the 
conduct  of  the  French  government,  as  opposed  to  all  rules  of  na- 
tional courtesy  and  right:  he  recommended  the  formation  of  a 
naval  force,  with  other  measures  for  defence  of  the  commerce  of  the 
country,  and  inveighed  against  the  inttjrference  of  France  with  the 
internal  politics  of  the  United  States,  exhibited  in  various  endeav- 
ours to  influence  the  elections,  and  alienate  the  people  from  the 
government.  After  long  debate  in  the  house,  appropriations  wore 
made,  and  loans  authorized  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  out  the 
views  of  the  president,  and  arrangements  were  made  for  a  draught 
of  militia  from  the  several  slates  in  case  of  emergency. 

A  new  embassy  was  commissioned,  consisting  of  three  persons — 
Pinckney,  Marshall,  and  Gerry — to  make  a  further  attempt  at  the 
opening  of  pacific  negotiations.  Tlie  envoys  proceeded  to  France, 
and  arrived  in  Paris  early  in  October,  1797.  The  Directory  rel'iiscd 
to  receive  them,  but  an  irregular  negotiation  was  commenced  tli rough 
the  intervention  of  some  agents  of  Talleyrand,  then  minist(!r  for 
foreign  affairs,  and  protracted,  without  important  issue,  until  April 
of  the  following  year.  Durijig  this  period,  the  American  ambassa- 
dors were  officially  authorized  to  remain  at  the  capital,  and,  from 
time  to  time,  held  interviews  with  Talleyrand  or  his  creatures. 

The  point  most  insisUid  on  by  the  latter,  was  the  necessity  tor 


% 


.10  IIS    ADAMS, 

SECOND  ri{t:sil)ENT  OF  THE  UMTED  STATES. 

BoKK   IN    1:3a      filKSiUKNT  IN   1797,    bKRVliU    1   YKAH3, 
UiJiU  JULY  4.  IbwO 


THE  UNITED   STATES. 


848 


opening  the  way  to  a  complete  arrangement,  by  a  douceur  or  bribe 
of  about  two  hundred  and  forty  thousand  dollars,  for  the  benefit  of 
the  minister  and  directory,  and  the  effecting  a  loan  to  the  French 
government  of  a  further  sum.  This  rapacious  scheme  was  urged 
with  the  most  unblushing  effrontery.  "The  main  point,"  said  the 
Frenchmen,  "is  ilfaut  de  Vargent — ilfaut  beaucoup  d^argent.^^  Some- 
thing in  hand,  at  least,  they  urged,  should  be  paid  them,  until  the 
matter  could  be  finally  arranged.  In  vain  did  the  envoys  protest 
that  they  possessed  no  shadow  of  authority  for  such  proceedings 
or  undertakings;  the  matter  was  again  and  again  reverted  to, 
and  suggestions,  unworthy  of  any  but  the  most  venal  and  cor- 
rupt, were  made  respecting  the  manner  in  which  it  might  be 
brought  about. 

The  demands  of  the  Directory,  as  finally  communicated  by  Tal- 
leyrand, could  not  be  listened  to  for  a  moment.  If  granted,  they 
would  necessarily  involve  the  United  States  in  an  immediate  war, 
for  not  only  was  the  loan  insisted  upon,  but  also  an  annulment 
of  the  late  treaty  with  Great  Britain.  Desirous  to  terrify,  or  force 
compliance  with  their  unreasonable  demands,  the  government  had, 
during  the  winter,  greatly  extended  the  grounds  upon  which  Amer- 
ican vessels  were  held  liable  to  seizure.  It  was  declared  that  all 
produce  of  any  dependency  of  Great  Britain,  without  regard  to 
existing  ownership,  should  be  lawful  prize,  if  found  on  board  a 
neutral  vessel. 

After  experiencing  every  slight  and  indignity,  two  of  the  Ameri- 
can commissioners,  Marshall  and  Pinckney,  returned  to  the  states; 
Gerry,  through  whom,  individually,  many  of  the  previous  commu- 
nications hati  been  made  by  Talleyrand,  and  with  whom,  as  being 
the  only  republican  on  the  commission,  it  was  intimixled  that  farther 
negotiations  might  be  continued,  remained  at  Paris. 

This  treatment  of  the  United  States'  ambassadors  could  not  fail  to 
weaken  the  influence  of  the  Gnllican  party  in  America.  The  out- 
ragoous  demands  of  France,  and  the  character  of  the  late  commercial 
decrees,  could  not  be  sustained  by  the  most  ardent  of  her  adlierents 
on  this  side  the  water.  Congress  being  in  session,  April,  1798,  dis- 
patches containing  a  history  of  the  negotiation  were  brought  up  for 
consideration.  The  most  active  measures  were  at  once  taken  to 
pn^pare  for  contingent  hostilities,  and  to  furnish  present  protection 
to  Ainericiin  shipping.  Large  sums  wore  appropriated  for  the  pur- 
chase of  tnunitiuiis  of  war,  for  the  increase  of  the  naval  force,  and 


84'i 


THE  PSOPLX'8  BOOK  OV  HIBTOBT. 


'^i^. 


for  fortifications.  A  new  cabinet  department  was  created  for  the 
management  of  naval  affiiira. 

A  succession  of  important  and  Tleoisive  measures  were  passed 
during  the  spring  and  summer.  Without  a  direct  declaration  of  war 
with  France,  orders  were  issued  for  a  cessation  of  all  commercial 
intercourse  with  that  country ;  former  treaties  were  declared  to  be 
of  no  further  effect;  the  capture  of  any  armed  French  vessels  was 
authorized,  if  by  private  adventure,  and  directed,  on  the  part  of 
the  United  States'  navy.  The  latter  was  greatly  increased,  and  large 
appropriations  were  made  for  building  new  vessels  and  enlisting  a 
corps  of  marines. 

.,  Powers  were  bestowed  upon  the  president,  to  enlist  an  army  of 
ten  thousand  men,  in  case  of  urgent  necessity,  and  to  immediately 
appoint  military  officers,  and  make  arrangements  for  the  enrolment 
and  training  of  volunteers,  in  anticipation  of  such  contingency.  He 
also  received  discretionary  authority  to  order  from  the  country  any 
foreigner  who  should  be  suspected  of  dangerous  designs  against 
government;  and,  in  case  of  hostilities,  to  banish  or  arrest  all  per^ 
sons  belonging  to  the  nation  against  which  war  should  be  declared. 

To  meet  the  heavy  expense  of  these  defensive  measures,  a  tax 
was  laid  upon  slaves  and  real  estate.  As  a  check  upon  the  violence 
of  the  more  turbulent  portion  of  the  opponition,  and  a  restraint  upon 
foreign  intrigue,  an  act  was  passed  defining  and  affixing  punishment 
to  seditious  or  treasonable  conspiracies  fur  opposing  the  authority 
of  government,  and  to  the  issuing  of  any  libel  upon  congress,  the 
executive,  or  the  measures  of  government,  as  well  aa  any  false  and 
malicious  publication,  having  a  tendency  to  excite  domestic  disaf- 
fection, or  to  aid  or  encounige  the  designs  of  any  hostile  nation. 

These  acts  met  with  a  very  strong  opposition  in  congress;  but 
the  federal  party  was  in  a  decided  majority,  and  generally  succeeded 
in  carrying  the  measures  introduced  by  its  leaders. 

The  office  of  commandcr-in  chief  of  the  provisional  army  was  be* 
stowed  upon  Washington:  his  acceptance  was  conditional  that  his 
aorvices  should  be  required  only  in  cose  of  emergency. 


•■11  - . 


!^  ;);tt,f  3^'  ii:  ,i:  • 


VJl        THK  UNITKD  STATES,  f  t'^^t 


846 


«^  .*< 


:?%s>t{^'iN>>^i      LiXlinJrxjan    IJL* 


PAOiriO  M0TSKBNT8  IV  PSANCB. — KI88I0N   OF   MDRRAT. — 
NATAL  SN0A0EKBMT8.  —  DBATH  OF   WASHINGTON. NAPO- 
LEON   FIE8T    CONSUL. — TREATY   WITH  PRANCE.  —  FIRST 
SESSION     OF     CONGRESS     AT     WASHINGTON. — PRESI- 
DENTIAL   ELECTION:    JEFFERSON    PRESIDENT,    AND 
BURR  TICE-PRE8IDBNT.  —  PARTY   REMOVAL  FROM  , 
OFFICE. — ECONOMICAL     REFORMS. — OHIO    AD- 
MITTED   INTO    THE     UNION.  —  TRANSFER    OF 
ifj^tT-'              LOUISIANA    TO    THE    UNITED    STATES. 


be- 
his 


The  Directory,  finding  all  efforts  to  involve  the  United  States  in 
war  with  England  likely  to  prove  futile,  and  learning  by  experi- 
ence, that  in  naval  operations  the  retaliatory  measures  lately  adopted 
in  America,  would  tell  severely  upon  French  commerce,  adopted  a 
more  pacific  and  conciliatory  course.  Shortly  before  the  departure 
of  Gerry,  which  took  place  in  August,  1708,  Talleyrand  communi- 
cated to  him  the  willingness  of  government  to  receive  a  minister 
from  the  United  States,  if  choice  should  be  made  of  one  free  from 
prejudice  against  the  interests  of  France;  and,  at  the  same  time, 
renounced  all  the  more  objectionable  preliminaries  to  negotiations, 
before  so  pertinaciously  urged.  About  the  same  time,  decrees  were 
passed  for  securing  American  vessels  against  unauthorized  seizures 
by  French  privateers,    '''f  w>^-w<*r,'    •  -sv^a^iit.:^ 

In  answer  to  these  overtures,  the  senate,  upon  nomination  of 
President  Adams,  in  February  of  1799,  appointtid  Mr.  Murray,  min- 
ister at  the  Hague,  jointly  with  Judge  Marsh  nil  and  Patrick  Ilenry, 
to  undertake  a  new  mission  to  France,  a  condition  being  annexed 
that  intimation  must  be  given  by  that  nation  of  a  favourable  reception 
before  they  should  enter  the  French  territory.  General  Davie,  of 
North  Carolina,  took  the  place  of  Henry,  who  declined  serving  on 
account  of  bodily  infirmitiea 

These  negotiations  were  slowly  perfected,  and,  in  the  interim, 
many  encounters  took  place  at  sea,  between  private  armed  vessels 
of  the  two  nations.  Those  employed  in  the  American  merchant  ser- 
vice, generally  availed  themselves  of  the  permission  accorded  by 
congress  to  carry  arms,  and  the  spirit  of  privateering,  purhnps  to 


846 


TIIK  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


be  considered  a  national  predilection,  was  gratified  by  the  aeizwre 
of  many  prizes.  In  February,  1799,  an  action  was  fought  at  sea, 
near  the  island  of  St  Kitt's,  between  the  United  States  frigate  Con- 
stellation, and  the  French  frigate  L'Insurgente,  in  which  the  latter 
after  a  severe  contest,  was  captured,  and  sent  a  prize  to  America. 

Upon  communication  through  Talleyrand,  of  the  readiness  of  the 
government  to  receive  American  envoys,  Marshall  and  Davie  were 
directed,  by  the  president,  to  embark  forthwith,  notwithstanding 
vehement  objections  from  a  portion  of  the  cabinet,  grounded  upon 
the  uncertainty  of  affairs  in  France,  consequential  upon  a  recent 
change  in  the  Directory. 

The  death  of  General  Washington,  which  occurred  on  the  14th 
of  December,  1799,  silenced,  for  a  brief  period,  the  clamour  of  party 
contention,  and  all,  except  a  few  among  the  most  violent  and  pre- 
judiced of  his  former  opponents,  united  to  honour  his  memory  by 
public  testimonials  of  respect  and  gratitude. 

The  new  revolution  of  affairs  in  France,  and  the  elevation  of  Na- 
poleon to  the  office  of  First  Consul,  occurring  at  this  epoch,  augured 
favourably  for  the  establishment  of  permanent  peace  with  France. 
Meanwhile,  the  national  pride  of  the  United  States  was  farther 
gratified  by  intelligence  of  the  prowess  of  the  Constellation  in  an- 
other engagement  with  the  French  frigate  La  Vengeance,  a  vessel 
of  greatly  superior  force.  Although  the  latter  escaped,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  loss  of  a  mast  by  the  Constellation,  she  was  so  much 
damaged  that  she  was  condemned  upon  arrival  at  port.  The  loss 
of  men  on  board  the  French  vessel  was  four  times  greater  than  that 
suffered  by  the  Americans,  amounting  to  about  one  hundred  and 
sixty  in  killed  and  wounded.  The  engagement  took  place  in  Feb- 
ruary, 1800. 

The  United  States'  ambassadors  were  received  by  the  First  Consul, 
with  distinguished  consideration,  in  the  ensuing  month  of  Marcli. 
Talleyrand  was  still  at  the  head  of  the  department  for  foreign  affairs, 
but  a  special  commission,  in  which  he  had  no  share,  was  appointed 
to  treat  on  the  part  of  the  French  government.  Bound  down  by 
stringent  instructions,  the  envoys  could  enter  into  no  conclusive 
arrangement,  but  a  temporary  convention  was  agreed  upon,  that, 
until  the  negotiation  could  be  completed  and  a  new  treaty  entered 
into,  the  ships  of  either  nation  were  to  be  safe  from  seizure  under 
the  late  unreasonable  decrees. 

Provision  was  also  made  for  reconveyance  of  prizes  not  already 


THE   UNITED   STATES. 


847 


condemned,  and  of  captured  national  vessels,  and  preliminary  agree- 
ments were  arranged  for  the  future  discharge  of  private  claims  against 
either  government.  These  results  were  not  arrived  at  before  the 
month  of  October  of  the  same  year.  They  afterwards  formed  the 
basis  for  the  conclusion  of  a  satisfactory  treaty. 

When  congress  came  together  in  November,  the  public  buildings 
at  Washington  were  sufficiently  advanced  to  serve  the  purposes 
designed,  and  the  session  was  held  accordingly  at  the  new  capitol. 
The  approaching  presidential  election  was  the  all-absorbing  topic  of 
interest,  inasmuch  as  a  grand  trial  of  strength  was  expected  between 
the  two  political  parties.  President  Adams  had  lost  popularity  by 
the  strong  measures  adopted  in  anticipation  of  war  with  France,  his 
course  not  appearing  justified  by  the  subsequent  turn  of  events. 

The  respective  candidates  for  the  offices  of  president  and  vice- 
president,  were  Adams  and  Pinckney,  on  the  side  of  the  federals; 
while  Jefferson,  and  the  talented  but  intriguing  and  unprincipled 
Colonel  Aaron  Burr,  stood  forth  as  representatives  of  the  republicans. 
The  latter  were  successful,  but  as  they  received  an  equal  number  of 
votes,  by  the  existing  constitutional  regulation,  selection  devolved 
upon  the  house  of  representatives.  The  votes  were  taken  by  states, 
and  it  was  not  until  afler  thirty-five  divisions,  that  either  candidate 
could  secure  a  majority.  The  contest  terminated  at  the  thirty-sixth 
balloting,  on  the  17th  of  February,  1801.  Jefferson  obtained  the 
majority,  and  was  declared  president  accordingly.  Burr  entered 
upon  the  office  of  vice-president. 

With  the  accession  of  Jefiferson  commenced  that  system  of  removal 
from  office  of  political  opponents  to  the  administration,  which,  with 
a  greater  or  less  degree  of  personal  favoritism,  has  been  the  estab- 
lished policy  upon  every  succeeding  revolution  of  parties.  The 
changes  arbitrarily  introduced  by  the  new  president  were  mostly 
such  as  were  absolutely  essential  for  the  establishment  of  a  necessary 
unanimity  in  the  departments,  and  a  cordial  cooperation  in  the  new 
principles  of  government.  The  displacement  of  certain  federal  in- 
cumbents of  inferior  offices,  gave  occasion  for  great  complaint,  as 
being  uncalled  for,  and  the  result  of  mere  party  prejudice.  With 
our  present  experience  of  what  may  result  from  a  retaliatory  spirit, 
we  must  look  upon  these  removals  by  Jefferson  as  being  conducted 
with  distinguished  moderation. 

The  introduction  of  economical  reform  in  the  expenses  of 
government  received  the  first  attention  of  the  new  administration. 


848 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HI8T0BT. 


The  navy  was  reduced,  and  its  place,  to  a  certain  extent,  supplied  by 
gun-boats,  built  for  harbour  defence — the  inefficiency  of  which,  after* 
wards  demonstrated,  gave  occasion  for  much  ridicule.  In  respect  to 
matters  more  particularly  within  the  cognizance  of  a  landsman  and 
one  unacquainted  with  the  practical  conduct  of  military  affairs,  the 
economical  policy  of  Jefferson  was  wisely  and  judiciously  enforced. 
The  obnoxious  excise  laws,  and  the  land-tax,  were  repealed,  by 
means  of  which  a  great  number  of  petty  but  expensive  offices  were 
annulled;  additional  federal  courts,  created  under  the  former  admin- 
istration, were  done  away  with;  and  provision  was  made  for  the 
reduction  and  eventual  payment  of  the  public  debt — the  existence 
of  which  was  supposed  to  give  undue  influence  to  the  treasury 
department 

In  1802,  the  state  of  Ohio,  whither  a  great  influx  of  emigrants  had 
poured  since  the  partial  extinguishment  of  the  Indian  title,  was 
admitted  into  the  Union  by  act  of  congress,  and  commenced  its 
separate  existence  as  a  sovereign  state  early  in  the  following  spring. 

The  transfer  of  the  immense  territory  of  Louisiana  from  Spain  to 
France,  and  the  negotiation  through  which  its  purchase  was  effected, 
by  the  United  States  in  1808,  have  been  already  detailed  in  that 
portion  of  this  work  devoted  to  the  French  settlements  in  America. 
No  event  could  have  been  of  greater  importance  to  our  western  states 
and  territories  than  this.  The  possession  by  any  foreign  nation  of 
the  outlet  to  the  main  channel  of  communication  to  this  vast  region, 
must  have  caused  continual  conflict  of  interest,  and  endangered  the 
preservation  of  friendly  relations  between  the  parties  concerned. 
Experience  had  shown  that  the  binding  force  of  treaties  was  insuffi- 
cient to  secure  our  citizens  in  their  stipulated  rights,  while  the  mouth 
of  the  Mississippi  was  commanded  by  the  agents  of  European  powers. 


I .'.  ', '  'f;'^;  .,>    A.  , 


'i   I-  ■  II   :. 


THE  UNITED  STATES. 


ClxAFTEE  X. 


849 


AMBRICAN  FMBT  IN  THB  MBDITERRANBAN. — BIPBDIIION  OF 

BATON  AND  HAMBT  AGAINST  TRIPOLI. — TRBATT  CONCLUDED. 

— JEFFERSON'S  RKBLBCTION. — BURR'S  DUEL  WITH  EAM- 

ILT0N:HI8  WESTERN  ENTERPRISE:  HIS  TRIAL. 

The  most  interesting  events,  connected  with  foreign  affairs,  during 
the  first  term  of  Jefferson's  presidency,  are  those  relating  to  difficul* 
ties  still  existing  with  the  Barbary  states.  That  the  maritime  nations 
of  Europe,  and  the  United  States  in  pursuance  of  their  example, 
should  have  so  long  submitted  to  the  degradation  of  purchasing 
peace  from  the  piratical  barbarians  of  northern  Africa,  seems  utterly 
unaccountable,  particularly  as  such  concessions  only  aggravated  their 
insolence,  and  encouraged  them,  from  time  to  time,  to  increase  their 
demands. 

An  American  frigate,  commanded  by  Bainbridge,  in  the  autumn 
of  the  year  1800,  was  compelled  by  the  Dey  of  Algiers  to  serve  as 
a  transport  for  the  transmission  of  presents,  kc.,  to  Constantinople; 
the  remonstrances  of  the  captain  were  met  by  the  most  arrogant  and 
insolent  expressions  of  superiority. 

The  state  of  Tripoli,  in  the  year  following  this  event,  commenced 
open  hostilities  against  American  commerce — the  reigning  prince 
having  become  dissatisfied  with  the  terms  upon  which  his  favour 
had  been  bought.  In  the  summer  of  1802  a  squadron  under  com- 
mand of  Commodore  Morris  was  dispatched  against  the  belligerent 
nation.  A  partial  blockade  and  some  unimportant  captures  were 
the  only  advantages  gained  during  this  season. 

During  the  summer  of  the  following  year  a  larger  naval  force 
under  Commodore  Preble  arrived  in  the  Mediterranean,  and  pro- 
ceeded to  blockade  the  harbour  of  Tripoli.  The  frigate  Philadelphia, 
commanded  by  Bainbridge,  arrived  first  at  the  station.  Unfortu- 
nately, while  in  pursuit  of  a  Tripolitan  vessel,  she  struck  upon  a  rock. 
Vain  efforts  were  made  to  lighten  and  heave  her  off,  during  which 
operation  she  was  surrounded  by  gun-boata  of  the  enemy.  The 
frigate  heeled  so  far  that  her  guns  were  useless,  and  she  became  a 
prize  to  th.3  Tripolitans.    They  got  her  off  safely,  and  took  her  into 


860 


Tllli   l'KOPLE'8   BOOK   OK   IllBTOKV. 


the  hurbuur,  making  prisoners  of  all  on  board.  The  offiours  alone 
were  cxcniptud  from  a  condition  of  slavery. 

This  capture  gave  occasion  for  a  brilliant  exploit.  Lieutenant 
Decatur,  with  a  small  vessel  recently  taken  from  the  enemy,  and 
manned  by  volunteers  from  the  American  frigate  Enterprise,  then 
lying  at  Syracuse,  undertook  to  destroy  the  Philadelphia.  On  the 
nigljt  of  February  16th,  1804,  the  Tripolitan  crew  on  board  the 
frigate  were  hailed  in  their  own  language  from  a  small  craft,  appar- 
ently of  their  nation,  whose  approach  was  regarded  without  suspicion. 
Under  the  excuse  that  she  had  lost  her  anchors,  the  stranger  was 
pertnitted  to  come  alongside  and  make  fast  to  the  ship,  ller  true 
character  was  immediately  ascertained:  the  Americans,  rushing  on 
board,  in  the  confusion  attendant  upon  the  first  alarm,  drove  the  crew 
overboard,  fired  the  vessel,  and  etfected  a  safe  retreat.   . 

An  achievement  of  a  still  more  remarkable  and  romantic  character 
was  accomplished  in  the  following  year  by  William  Eaton,  Consul 
for  the  United  States  at  Tunis.  Jessuf,  the  Bashaw  of  Tripoli,  was 
a  younger  brother;  he  had  driven  Ilamet,  the  rightful  incumbent  of 
the  throne,  into  exile;  and  with  the  latter,  Eaton,  by  authority  from 
the  United  States,  entered  into  correspondence  for  the  purpose  of 
planning  a  land  expedition  from  Egypt  into  Tripoli,  and  expelling 
the  usurper. 

A  little  band  of  ^Vrabs,  Tripolitan  refugees  of  Uamet's  party,  and 
Christian  adventurers,  numbering  in  all  only  about  four  hundred 
men,  set  out  from  the  vicinity  of  Alexandria,  early  in  the  spring  of 
1805.  The  passage  of  the  intervening  desert  was  not  completed 
until  the  latter  part  of  April,  the  march  being  attended  with  extreme 
suffering  and  destitution.  The  invaders  arriving  at  Derne,  with  the 
cooperation  of  American  vessels  lying  in  the  harbour,  took  forcible 
possession  of  the  town,  and  held  it  against  the  main  Tripolitan  force, 
by  which  they  were  attacked  a  fortnight  later. 

While  thus  in  the  full  tide  of  success,  the  hopes  of  Ilamet  and  his 
enterprising  ally  were  crushed  by  the  conclusion  of  a  treaty  between 
the  United  States  and  Tripoli,  by  which  Jessuf  was  lefl  in  undisturbed 
posses-sion  of  his  sovereignty.  A  large  sum  was  paid  for  the  ransom 
of  captives  remaining  in  the  power  of  the  bashaw,  after  the  accom- 
])li8hincnt  of  an  equal  exchange  for  those  prisoners  taken  by  the 
Americans. 

Prior  to  the  conclusion  of  these  events,  a  new  presidential  election 
in  the  United  States,  had  resulted  in  Jefferson's  continuance  in  office 


* 


the 

ition 
•fficc 


7'  //  o  v  \  .s  ./  /:  /•  /.'  /;  R  ,s  o  v, 

TIIIKD   I'liKSIDKNT   Ol'  THK   UN'lTKn  STATES. 

BOBN   IN    171.1    AT     KilAnWKI.L.    AI.BKMAULE    COUNTY,    Va   ;     FLFCTKr. 

FRK.SIDtNT  IN    1601,   ]1Y  A  MA.IOKITY   OF  1;    8ERVKD  8  TEARS 

DtFD  im.Y  4    IP'Jfl 


a 


a 


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II 
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cc 
ni 
m 


THE   UNITED   STATES, 


851 


for  %  Mcond  term.  George  Clint»>ti  of  New  York  was  chosen  vice- 
president  in  place  of  Burr.  The  latter,  in  tlif  summer  of  1804,  en- 
raged iigftinst  Ilatnilttin  on  iu;count  of  influence  brought  to  bear 
Against  him  as  oan<iidate  for  the  office  of  governor  of  New  York, 
sought  /'  i|uarrel  with  his  political  opponent,  which  resulted  in  a 
duel.  Hunultoi  f"!)  mortally  wounded  at  the  first  fire.  The  cir- 
cumstance that  liurr  was  the  aggressor,  to-  well  as  the  challenging 
party,  with  a  general  Huspicion  of  his  pr«>vu>  ^  integrity  and  good 
faith,  arouseil  such  pi.  blic  indignation  that  he  w  "<  obliged  to  leave 
the  state.  Politically  dead  in  the  Uiiilid  States,  i  urned  hisatten 
tion  thenceforth  t*>  deeper  and  more  despcute  hw  'gues,  to  whic',, 
a  little  anticipating  the  order  of  events,  wo  u       bet'   advert. 

In  concert  with  one  Blennerhasset.,  an  Iri  man  cf  considr  ible 
property,  who  had  established  himseli  upon  ti  ifilmid  in  the  Ohio 
river  near  Marietta,  Burr,  it  would  appear,  ibrmei  magnificent 
schemes  for  revolutionizing  the  western  country,  a  id  lue  establish- 
ment of  a  sepnrat  government,  as  well  as  for  in  avusion  of  the 
Spanish  province  >  f  Mexico.  By  personal  inte^  \v«  with  leading 
men  who  were  supp  ised  to  be  disaffected  towards 
by  mysterious  letters  calculated  to  arouse  cupidity 
nite  hopes,  and  by  n<  '^otiations  through  agents  in  ' 
very  variant  degrees  o"  confidence,  he  sut^ceoded  in  ei 
feverish  anticipation  of  ^ome  great,  but  indt^terminat* 
about  to  take  place. 

Being  a  man  of  consummate  abilities,  and  of  a  rema 
address,  he  acquired  grc  it  influence  over  those  with 
familiar  intercourse,  and  while  he  could  mould  inferior  minds  to  his 
own  views,  he  was  always  able  to  conceal  his  own  true  'urposes. 
Perhaps  no  political  intri;.  ue  ever  occupied  such  universa  .tteution, 
as  the  one  of  which  we  ar-  speaking,  without  its  purport  eventually 
becoming  more  clearly  apj  arent. 

When  Burr  first  began  )  collect  forces,  it  was  under  the  guise 
of  procuring  emigrants  to  <  cupy  a  tract  on  the  Ouachita,  in  Louis- 
iana, to  which  he  had  pure,  wed  a  doubtful  claim.  In  December, 
1806,  with  about  one  hundred  men — who  were  probably  as  much 
in  the  dark  as  to  the  true  destination  and  purposes  of  the  expedition 
as  the  public  at  large — he  pa^ssed  down  the  Ohio  in  a  number  of 
covered  flat-boats.  The  ager  ts  of  government  were  on  the  alert, 
and  his  pnyects  were  by  this  ti  ne  universally  canvassed,  and  entered 
more  or  less  into  the  political  ontroversies  of  the  day. 
Vol.  IV.-51 


idmaiistration, 
ad  excite  indefi- 

">m  he  placed 

;      ingastateof 

tticalchan'^o, 

'ly  pleasing 
>in  he  held 


852 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  UI8T0BY. 


At  Natchez,  Burr  submitted  to  the  requisitions  of  the  territorial 
civil  authorities,  and  the  charges  against  him  were  investigated 
by  the  intervention  of  a  grand  jury  at  Washington,  the  capital  of 
the  Mississippi  territory.  Nothing  could  be  established  by  any 
direct  evidence,  and  he  was  acquitted.  Meanwhile,  General  Wil- 
kinson, the  military  commander  at  New  Orleans,  to  whom  Burr  had 
previously  made  many  overtures,  had  arbitrarily  arrested  several 
of  the  agents  commissioned  by  the  latter,  and  was  enforcing  a 
species  of  martial  law,  in  anticipation  of  the  expected  invasion  or 
revolution. 

Further  conduct  of  the  expedition  was  unsafe,  and  Burr,  dis- 
missing his  followers,  attempted  to  make  his  escape  into  Florida. 
He  was  arrested  near  the  Tombigbee  river,  and  taken  prisoner  to 
Richmond,  where  he  was  bailed,  upon  the  charge  of  violating  the 
neutrality  law,  by  enlisting  forces  to  invade  a  peaceful  nation.  Ho 
was  subsequently  indicted  by  a  grand  jury  for  high  treason  in  levy- 
ing war  against  the  United  States.  The  trial,  after  much  delay  in 
vexatious  preliminaries,  took  place  in  August,  1807,  Chief-Justice 
Marshall  presiding.  Sufficient  evidence  could  not  be  obtained  to 
sustain  the  charge,  and  a  verdict  of  acquittal  followed.  The  same 
result  attended  the  trial  upon  the  charge  of  a  violation  of  the  neu- 
trality act 

All  concerned  were  held  amenable  to  the  provisions  of  the  latter 
law  in  any  district  where  an  overt  act,  falling  within  its  prohibi- 
tions, should  have  been  committed.  Held  to  bail  in  Ohio,  upon  the 
same  accusation,  Burr  and  Blennerhasset  both  forfeited  their  bonds. 

The  former  soon  afler  sailed  for  Europe,  and  ptissed  many  years 
in  fruitless  endeavours  to  curry  out  schemes  of  personal  aggrandize- 
ment in  France  and  England.  He  returned  to  spend  the  latter 
years  of  his  life  in  the  obscure  practice  of  law  in  his  own  state. 


THE  UNITED  STATES. 


868 


■  v»* 


tiixAxxiiiH    Xi. 


■■'^AT:- 


BNGLI8H  AGORB88ION8. — PAILITRB  OP  NEGOTIATION. — ATIACX 
ON  THE  FRIGATE  CHE8APEAKE.  —  EMBARGO. — NON-INTER- 
COURSE ACT.  —  ABOLITION  OP  THE  SLAVE-TRADE.—  "'HN 
RANDOLPH.  —  WEST   FLORIDA. — CONCESSIONS  OF   N.     0- 
LEON.  —  BRITISH    CRUISERS;    THE    LITTLE  BELT. — 
TECUMSEH:   EL8IWATAWA:   BATTLE  OF   TIPPECANOE* 
—  EAST    FLORIDA.  —  DECLARATION    OF    WAR. 


Throughout  the  closing  term  of  Jefferson's  administration,  the 
disturbed  state  of  affairs  in  Europe  was  disastrously  felt  in  America; 
in  carrying  out  schemes  of  mutual  aggression,  the  two  great  belliger- 
ent powers  were  utterly  regardless  of  the  rights  and  interests  of 
neutral  nations.  "It  was  in  vain  that  the  government  of  the  United 
States  expostulated  with  them.  To  England  it  denied  having  sub- 
mitted to  the  decrees  of  the  French  ruler ;  and  to  the  latter  it  rep- 
resented the  indefeasible  rights  of  neutrals.  'Join  with  me  in 
bringing  England  to  reason,'  was  the  reply  of  Bonaparte,  who  was 
blind  to  all  objects  and  reasons,  except  that  of  humbling  his  arch- 
enemy. America  was,  in  consequence,  left  to  choose  which  of  the 
belligerents  she  should  take  for  foes,  since  both  at  once  might  prove 
too  powerful  for  her,  and  neutrality,  persevered  in,  only  exposed  her 
vessels  to  capture,  without  retaliation — to  the  disadvantages,  in  fact, 
without  the  advantages  of  war."  "The  great  powers  of  the  land 
and  sea,  unable  to  measure  their  strength,  since  each  was  predom- 
inant on  its  own  element,  came  to  vent  their  blows  on  America."* 

When,  by  the  Berlin  decree,  of  November,  1806,  the  emperor,  in 
retaliation  for  a  similar  assumption  in  respect  to  France,  had 
pronounced  Great  Britain  to  be  in  a  state  of  blockade,  and  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  latter  had  extended  her  former  decree  to  all  the 
dependencies  and  allies  of  France,  the  commerce  of  the  United 
States  was,  in  effect,  annihilated.  There  were  not,  however,  want- 
ing causes  for  a  strong  discrimination,  in  the  minds  of  the  Ameri- 
cans, between  the  spirit  and  motives  which  actuated  the  several 
aggressing  nations. 

The  conduct  of  the  naval  officers  in  the  British  service,  generally 

*  Lardner's  Cabinet  Cyclopffidia. 


854 


TH£   PEOPLE'S   BOOK   OF   HISTORY. 


insolent  and  overbearing  towards  the  American  marine,  had  been 
growing  more  and  more  intolerable.  The  impressment  of  seamen 
from  United  States'  merchant  vessels  continued  and  increased,  not* 
withstanding  the  remonstrances  of  government,  and  a  representa- 
tion of  the  fact,  that  many  American  citizens  were  thus  enslaved  for 
foreign  service. 

In  hopes  to  effect  some  modification  in  the  former  treaty,  by 
which  these  illegal  seizures  might  be  checked,  and  the  commerce  of 
America  be  freed  from  the  more  oppressive  restrictions,  Messrs. 
Monroe  and  Pinokney  were  commissioned  as  ambassadors  to  Eng- 
land in  1806.  They  arranged  a  treaty  accordingly,  but,  as  nothing 
was  yielded  by  the  British  government  respecting  the  more  import- 
ant points  of  controversy,  the  president,  without  communicating  with 
the  senate,  refused  to  ratify. 

While  attempts  at  negotiation  failed,  the  course  pursued  by  the 
English  cruisers,  in  carrying  ov  eir  instructions  to  watch  the 
American  coast,  assumed  an  appearance  more  than  ever  offensive. 
A  direct  attack  upon  a  nativ.uu.1  vessel,  finally  called  for  some  deci* 
sive  action.  The  Chesapeake,  an  American  frigate,  was  dispatched 
in  the  month  of  June,  1807,  to  the  Mediterranean.  Just  without 
the  capes  of  the  Chesapeake,  she  was  hailed  by  the  Leopard,  an 
English  man-of-war.  Upon  heaving  to,  a  boat  soon  came  along- 
side, and  a  message  was  delivered  from  the  captain  of  the  Leopard, 
demanding  permission  to  search  for  certain  deserters,  known  or  sus- 
pected to  be  on  board  the  American  vessel.  Specific  orders  to  this 
effect  had  been  given  by  the  British  Admiral  Berkeley. 
;  The  demand  not  being  cgmplied  with,  the  Leopard,  having  taken 
a  favourable  position,  without  further  parley,  first  fired  two  succes- 
sive single  shots,  the  first,  across  the  bows  of  the  Chesapeake,  and 
then  poured  in  several  broadsides,  by  which  three  men  were  killed, 
a  number  wounded,  and  much  damage  was  done  to  the  vessel.  The 
commander,  Barron,  his  ship  not  being  ready  for  action,  was  unable 
to  resist,  and  therefore  struck  his  flag.  Several  officers  from  the 
I^eopard  then  came  on  board;  the  crew  of  the  Chesapeake  were 
examined,  and  four  were  taken  away  prisoners,  as  deserters  from 
the  British  service.  One  of  them  was  afVerwards  hanged  for  de- 
sertion; the  three  others  (coloured  men)  proved  to  be  American 
sitizens.    The  Chesapeake  immediately  returned  to  Norfolk. 

President  Jefferson  promptly  issued  a  proclamation,  ordering  all 
British  armed  vessels  to  leave  the  waters  of  the  United  States,  and 


THE   UNITED   STATES.    '    * 


866 


prohibiting  further  intercourse  with  them.  Demand  was  made  upon 
the  British  government  for  redress,  and  for  future  guarantee  that 
American  vessels  should  be  no  longer  searched  for  purposes  of 
impressment.  The  attack  on  the  Chesapeake — being  totally  inex- 
cusable, although  similar  acts  had  been  previously  committed,  on 
several  occasions,  by  British  vessels — was  at  once  disavowed,  and 
full  reparation  was  tendered ;  but  upon  the  other  point,  no  concession 
whatever  was  made.  New  and  more  stringent  orders  instead,  were 
issued  for  the  siezure  of  British  mariners  in  foreign  service;  and,  in 
case  such  should  be  known  to  be  on  board  national  vessels  of  a 
neutral,  precise  instructions  were  given  to  make  report  thereof  to 
the  British  admiralty. 

Congress  was  called  together  at  an  earlier  day  than  the  regular 
commencement  of  the  session,  and,  after  much  discussion,  a  general 
embargo  was  laid  (December,  1807),  to  continue  indefinitely,  by 
which  American  vessels  were  prohibited  from  leaving  port.  The 
enforcement  of  this  system,  however  necessary,  occasioned  great 
commercial  distress,  and  gave  much  dissatisfaction  in  New  England. 
The  embargo  was,  to  a  certain  extent,  evaded  by  the  more  adven- 
turous; but  the  retaliatory  decrees  of  France  and  England  had  been 
extended  to  such  an  extreme  of  exclusion,  that  no  vessel  trading 
to  Europe  or  the  West  Indies  could  be  safe  from  seizure.     "  '    '- 

The  prospect  of  an  amicable  arrangement  appeared  less  than  ever. 
Throughout  the  year  1808,  nothing  was  heard  but  complaints  of 
the  oppressive  embargo.  At  the  winter  session  of  congress,  in 
1808-9,  the  whole  subject  was  debated,  and,  in  place  of  the  embargo, 
a  prohibition  of  intercourse  with  France  and  England  was  concluded 
upon — trade  with  other  countries  of  Europe  being  left  open.  A  pro- 
vision was  also  appended,  giving  the  president  power  to  suspend 
this  restriction  as  to  either  nation  which  should  conform  to  the 
requisitions  of  the  United  States,  by  a  withdrawal  of  the  obnoxious 
edicts  or  orders  in  council.  This  change  was  accomplished  jiist 
before  the  close  of  Jefferson's  administration.  In  accordance  with 
the  example  of  Washington,  he  had  declined  being  a  candidate  for 
a  third  presidential  term.  The  republican  party,  retaining  their 
ascendancy,  elected  James  Madison,  late  secretary  of  state,  to  the 
office  of  president:  Clinton  was  again  chosen  vice-president        •  '  ' 

One  very  important  event,  not  noticed  in  the  order  of  its  occur- 
rence, was  the  passage,  by  congress,  of  an  act  prohibiting  the  intro- 
duction of  slaves  after  the  Ist  of  January,  1808 — the  constitutional 


356 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


limit  witliia  which  no  restraining  law  could  be  enacted,  upon  this 
subject,  Other  than  the  imposition  of  a  specified  duty  upon  all  im- 
ported. Severe  penalties  were  affixed  to  the  direct  importation  of 
slaves,  attaching,  although  in  less  degree,  to  the  buyer  who  should 
be  cognizant  of  the  illegal  introduction;  and  the  transportation  of 
slaves  by  sea  from  one  po^t  to  another  in  the  United  States,  was 
regulated  and  restrained.  Slaves  thenceforth  imported,  were  to  be 
seized,  and  to  "remain  subject  to  any  regulation  or  disposal,  not 
contrary  to  the  provisions  of  this  act,  which  might  be  made  by  the 
respective  states  and  territories." 

In  the  debate  upon  this  subject,  a  prominent  part  was  taken,  in 
behalf  of  the  slave-holding  interest,  by  John  Randolph,  a  young 
member  from  Virginia,  whose  remarkable  talents  and  brilliant  ora- 
tory might  have  given  him  a  position  of  great  eminence,  but  for  a 
singular  vein  of  misanthropic  eccentricity  which  pervaded  his  whole 
character,  and  for  an  unparalleled  degree  of  habitual  insolence  and 
assumption.  Belonging  originally  to  the  republican  party,  he  was 
of  the  number  of  those  who  seceded  from  the  principles  adopted  by 
the  administration,  and  during  Jefferson's  closing  term,  headed  a 
powerful  opposition  to  the  measures  adopted  in  retaliation  for  Brit- 
ish aggression.   'Wi    ^,,*-.f^  r      -     .  =.  .1    .,• 

The  first  communications  opened  with  Great  Britain,  afler  Madi- 
son's inauguration,  gave  promise  of  a  speedy  settlement  of  difficulties. 
Mr.  Erskine,  the  British  niiinster,  over-stepping  the  limits  of  his 
instructions  from  Secretary  Canning,  stipulated  on  behalf  of  llis 
government,  that  the  odious  commercial  orders  in  council  should 
be  uHthdrawn,  as  to  United  States' vessels,  upon  revocation  of  the 
non-intercourse  act.  The  president,  in  conformity  with  the  powers 
expressly  conferred  upon  hitn,  suspended  the  act  accordingly. 

Several  preliminary  conditions,  upon  which  he  had  received  spe- 
cial instruciions,  were  entirely  neglected  by  Erskine  in  this  nego- 
tiation. The  most  important  of  these  related  to  a  matter  long  in 
dispute,  vi^:  whether,  in  time  of  war,  a  neutral  could  carry  on  a 
trade  with  one  of  the  belligerent  parties,  of  a  character  prohibited 
by  such  nation  in  time  of  peace. 

P<rskine's  stipulationa  were,  therefore,  disavowed,  and  non-inter- 
course was  rei'Diublislied.  Provisions  were  made  by  the  British 
government  in  favour  of  such  vessels  as  might  have  availed  tliem- 
aclvcs  of  the  tem{M)rury  removal  of  restrictions.  Mutual  recrimina- 
tions in  respect  to  this  afiuir,  aggravated  the  hostile  dispositions  of 


THE  UNITED  STATES. 


357 


the  two  governments.  On  the  one  hand,  it  was  suggested  that  the 
United  States  had  been  cognizant  of  the  true  nature  of  the  instruc* 
tions  given  to  the  British  ambassador,  while,  on  the  other,  the  refusal 
of  the  ministry  to  ratify  the  arrangement  concluded,  was  looked 
upon  as  "an  act  of  capricious  hostility."  Mr.  Jackson,  successor  to 
Mr.  Erskine,  upon  a  renewal  of  negotiation,  conducted  the  corres- 
pondence in  a  manner  so  offensive,  that  his  rgcall  was  demanded, 
and  all  diplomatic  intercourse,  for  the  time,  was  suspended. 

During  the  autumn  of  1810,  the  settlers  in  that  portion  of  West 
Florida  bordering  on  the  Mississippi,- following  the  example  of 
other  Spanish  American  colonies,  took  advantage  of  the  embarrassed 
position  of  the  home  government  to  rebel  against  the  Spanish  au- 
thorities.   This  district  was  soon  after  occupied  by  the  United 
States,  under  claim  of  title,  by  virtue  of  former  treaties  of  transfer. 
Upon  the  expiration  of  the  non-intercourse  act,  in  1810,  propositions 
were  made  by  the  United  States  to  France  and  England  for  a  re- 
moval of  the  onerous  restrictions  upon  trade.     To  either  nation 
which  should  comply  with  this  requisition,  the  inducement  of  exclu- 
sive commercial  intercourse  was  held  out.    Napoleon,  willing  to 
yield  a  point  in  his  rigid  continental  system,  for  the  purpose  of 
securing  the  friendship  of  the  United  States,  and — a  matter  still 
more  to  his  taste — of  involving  them  in  war  with  England,  gave 
notice,  through  his  ministers,  that  American  vessels  should  be  free 
from  the  operation  of  the  sweeping  decrees  of  Berlin  and  Milan. 

Commerce  was  at  once  opened  with  France;  but  the  British  gov- 
ernment, affecting  to  consider  the  suspension  of  the  French  decrees 
as  irregular,  temporary,  and  illusive,  declined  yielding  to  the  re- 
quirements of  the  United  States.  On  the  contrary,  national  jealousy 
being  aroused  by  the  prospect  of  an  advantageous  trade  between 
this  country  and  France,  renewed  vigilance  was  exercised,  and  a 
more  rigorous  search  instituted  by  the  numerous  British  cruisers  on 
the  American  coast. 

The  sloop-of-war  Little  Belt,  commanded  by  Captain  Bingham, 
while  engaged  in  this  service,  fell  in  with  the  American  frigate  Pres- 
ident, under  Commodore  Kodgers.  The  English*  vessel  at  first  bore 
down  upon  the  American,  until  discovering  that  the  latter  was  of 
greater  force,  and  that  her  signals  were  not  answered,  she  stood 
away.  Pursutd  by  the  President,  she  hove  to,  and  both  vessels 
hailed,  as  appears,  nearly  simultaneously.  Neither  replied  except 
by  a  socoad  hail.    Upon  this  some  shots  were  fired — accounts  being 


m 


1^' 


q 


858 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


contradictory  as  to  which  vessel  commenced — soon  succeeded  by  a 
general  cannonade  on  either  side,  in  which  the  Little  Belt  was  nearly 
disabled,  and  lost  more  than  thirty  of  her  crew  in  killed  and  wounded 
Such  discrepancy  prevails  in  the  accounts  given  of  this  transaction, 
that  we  are  somewhat  at  a  loss  in  forming  conclusions  respecting 
its  merits. 

At  a  special  session  of  congress,  in  the  autumn  of  1811,  the  presi 
dent  set  forth,  in  a  message  to  that  body,  the  futility  of  all  attempts 
at  negotiation  with  Great  Britain,  the  enormous  injury  to  American 
commerce  effected  by  her  exclusive  system,  the  vast  number  of  ves- 
sels in  the  United  States'  merchant  service  which  had  fallen  a  prey  to 
her  cruisers,  and  the  generally  aggressive  and  ungenerous  policy 
pursued  by  her  government  "With  this  evidence,"  proceeded  the 
address,  "of  hostile  inflexibility,  in  trampling  upon  rights  which  no 
independent  nation  can  relinquish,  congress  will  feel  the  duty  of 
putting  the  United  States  into  an  armour  and  an  attitude  de- 
manded by  the  crisis,  and  corresponding  with  the  national  spirit 
and  expectations."       .a*  ..  .h:*',  f  «  ;  ;;s'' i?i'«tK>  ti  m   ^ 

,  This  call  was  responded  to,  by  a  decided  majority,  in  n  similar 
spirit  Appropriations  were  made,  and  loans  authorized,  for  the 
enlargement  of  the  army,  for  fortifications,  and  the  accumulation  of 
military  stores.  The  navy  was  ordered  to  be  increased,  and  pro- 
visions were  made  for  organizing  a  militia  force.  The  existence  of 
serious  disturbances  at  the  north-west,  attributed,  in  some  measure, 
to  British  influence  over  the  Indian  tribes,  added  to  the  hostile  feel- 
ing entertained  towards  Great  Britain. 

A  new  confederacy  had  been  long  forming  in  that  quarter, 
under  the  direction,  and  through  the  intrigues  of  the  celebrated 
Tecumseh  and  his  brother  Elskwatawa,  or  the  Prophet  The 
former,  at  this  period,  was  engaged  in  gaining  over  the  tribes  of  the 
southern  states  to  unite  in  a  magnificent  enterprise  for  the  recovery 
of  the  entire  valley  of  the  Mississippi  from  the  whites.  The  pro- 
phet was  established  on  the  Tippecanoe,  a  tributary  of  the  Wa- 
bash, where  a  horde  of  his  followers  encamped  about  him,  and  kept 
the  country  in  terror  by  their  depredations. 

To  check  these  ravages,  Governor  Harrison,  with  a  force  of  about 
nine  hundred  men,  regulars,  militia,  and  volunteers,  marched  up 
the  Wabash  from  Fort  Harrison,  at  the  close  of  October  (1811). 
He  encamped  on  the  5th  of  November,  within  nine  miles  of  the 
prophet's  town,  and  attempted  to  negotiate  with  the  Indian  chief. 


» f.?\ 


,J  '•i  *-!'4  i.   ««  *«••< 


','■-  •  t'l  ■«>  s«»t 


'•i    '    ,f     ,• 


?*»'9-  j^fiV 


■•r/  .-•  y 


!^.H  •     !'.' 


*} 


(        t 


^li  BH 


J.Wins    M\nis().\, 

YOVlVVn    rUK^IDKN'T   (,>F  TIIK    UNITKI)  STATES. 

BORrriN  1-i.l,  NEAR  Pr»RT  RriYAL,  V*  ;    rKKHIlJENT  IN   \B00  :   SKRVKD 
eTKARS;    DIKii  JUIiK  88,  ISJJ 


THE  UNITED   STATES. 


859 


The  latter  proposed  a  !e,  for  the  purpose  of  a  conference  to  take 
place  on  the  day  following.  This  pacific  overture  was  merely  in- 
tended to  disarm  suspicion.  On  the  following  morning,  a  little 
before  day-break — the  time  always  selected  by  the  Indians,  for  a 
surprise— the  whole  force  under  command  of  the  prophet,  fell  upon 
the  American  encampment. 

Fortunately,  due  precautions  had  been  taken  for  a  timely  alarm, 
and  for  the  preservation  of  order  in  case  of  a  night  attack.  Although 
the  Indians  fought  with  astonishing  fury  and  determination,  they 
were  finally  driven  off  and  dispersed,  not  without  a  loss,  op  the 
part  of  the  whites),  of  one  hundred  and  fifty  in  killed  and  wounded. 
The  American  troops  immediately  proceeded  to  the  Indian  settlement, 
and  accomplished  its  entire  destruction. 

Certain  disclosures,  communicated  to  congress  by  a  message  of  the 
president,  in  March,  1812,  relative  to  the  secret  agency  of  one  John 
Ilenry,  who,  several  years  previous,  had  been  commissioned  by  the 
governor  of  Canada  to  attempt  negotiation  with  the  New  England 
federalists,  excited  great  indignation  among  the  war  party.  It  would 
appear  that  for  a  time  undue  importance  was  attached  to  this  affair. 
The  president  paid  a  large  sum  of  money  from  the  secret  service  fund, 
to  secure  the  correspondence  between  Henry  and  his  employer.  The 
principal  matter  of  the  communications  related  to  the  extent  to  which 
the  anti-war  party  might  be  willing  to  push  their  opposition,  and  the 
possibility  or  probability  of  a  secession  from  the  Union  by  the  com- 
mercial states  of  the  north,  in  the  event  of  their  political  defeat. 

In  the  month  of  April,^n  important  accession  to  the  southern  in- 
terest resulted  from  the  admission  of  Ihe  new  state  of  Louisiana, 
including  that  portion  of  West  Florida  already  occupied  by  the 
United  States.  The  Spanish  possessions  in  East  Florida  were  en- 
dangered, at  the  same  period,  by  an  outbreak  encouraged  and  pro- 
moted by  the  American  general,  Matthews.  A  strong  party  in 
congress — even  a  majority  in  the  house — was  in  favour  of  taking 
forcible  possession  of  this  territory ;  but  a  bill  for  that  purpose  was 
lost  in  the  senate. 

A  prospect  of  speedy  hostilities  with  America,  gave  rise  to  a  strong 
opposition  in  the  British  parliament,  to  the  measures  of  government; 
and  strenuous  exertions  were  made  to  effect  a  compliance  with  the 
principal  requisitions  of  the  United  States.  These  movements  on 
the  part  of  the  friends  of  peace  and  of  the  rights  of  neutrals,  it  has 
been  said,  might  have  terminated  in  such  concession  as  would  have 


i 


I 


860 


THE  PEOPLE'S   BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


satisfied  the  latter,  if  patience  had  been  a  little  farther  extended. 
At  the  close  of  May,  1812,  recent  intelligence  having  been  received 
from  England,  and  no  prospect  appearing  of  a  disposition  on  the  part 
of  government  to  yield  the  questions  in  dispute,  President  Madison 
sent  in  a  message  recommending  immediate  declaration  of  war. 

The  senate  promptly  concurred  with  the  recommendation ;  in  the 
house,  the  question,  after  about  a  fortnight's  consideration,  resulted 
in  the  same  conclusion.  The  debate  was  conducted  with  closed 
doors.  On  the  18th  of  June,  war  was  formally  declared  with  Great 
Britain.  To  this  act  most  strenuous  opposition  was  made  by  the 
federal  party.  In  those  portions  of  the  United  States  most  depend' 
ant  upon  commerce,  a  violent  outcry  was  raised  against  a  measure, 
which,  although  specially  called  for  by  foreign  aggressions  upon 
their  rights  and  interest,  threatened  to  increase  their  present  diffl* 
culties,  while  it  impose'?  upon  the  country  at  large  an  enormous 
burden  of  additional  expense. 


RIOTS  AT  MAITIMORl.  —  HULI/8  INVASION  OF  CANADA. — RB- 

PSAT.  OP  TUB  ORDBRS  IN  COUNCIL:  IMPRESSMENT.  —  NAVAL 

OPERATIONS.  —  MADISON'S  RKE LECTION.  —  N0RTH-WK8T- 

RRN   CAMPAIGN:    DEFEAT  OF    WINCHESTER.  —  ATTACI 

ON    TORI.  —  THE   BRITISH   ON    LAKE  CHAMPLAIN. 


While  expressions  of  indignation  and  regret  were  every  where 
hcanl  throughout  tlio.se  portions  of  the  country  where  the  war  was 
unpopular,  and  signs  of  public  mourning  appeared  in  the  flags  of  a 
U8cU'8.s  shipping  hoisted  at  lialfmast,  tlie  war-party  in  other  districts 
exhibited  still  more  violent  feeling.  At  Baltimore,  the  most  disgrace- 
ful scenes  of  brutal  oiitrngc  occurred,  in  connection  with  the  8Uj)pro8- 
sion  by  a  mob  of  a  federal  news-paper,  which  jHjrsisted  in  opposing 
popular  opinion.  Tlie  editor,  Ilan.son,  with  a  number  of  friend.-*,  in 
defence  of  his  house,  attacked  by  an  infuriate  |K)pulace,  fired  upon 
the  a.««Hjiilant«,  one  of  whom  was  killed. 

The  municipal  uulliorities  at  bust  appeared,  with  an  armed  force, 
nud,  to  appease  the  mob,  Hanson  and  his  companions  consented  to 


in 

pon 


THE  UNITKD    8T 


lt». 


361 


be  taken  to  prison,  to  answer  to  any  chu       that  rniu^ht  be  substan* 
tiated  against  them.     The  following  nigut  the  jail  \.a»  broken  into, 
and  a  number  of  these  prisoners,  falling  into  the  hands  of  the  rioters, 
were  most  barbarously  beaten,  wounded,  and  tormented.    One  of 
the  number,  General  Lingan,  an  old  revolutionary  soldier,  died  under 
their  hands;  the  otheqs  were  left  for  dead,  and  some  never  recovered 
from  the  injuries  received.     The  perpetrators  of  this  cowardly  and 
villanoua  outrage  received  no  punishment;  some  of  the  foremost  in 
the  transaction  were  tried  and  acquitted  by  ajury  of  thtf  neighbourhood. 
Upon  the  organization  of  the  new  army,  the  chief  command  was 
bestowed  upon  General  Henry  Dearbt)rn,  of  Massachusetts,  an  (officer 
of  the  revolution.   At  the  south,  Thomas  Pinckney,  of  South  Carolina, 
was  created  major-general,  and  invested  with  the  chief  command  in 
that  quarter.     The  first  attention  of  the  government  was  directed  to 
an  expedition  into  Canada,  where,  it  was  believed,  the  disaffection  of 
the  inhabitants  towards  Great  Britain  would  render  it  easy  to  obtain 
a  foothold.     A  force  of  nearly  two  thousand  men,  under  Brigadier- 
General  Hull,  governor  of  the  territory  of  Michigan,  entered  Canada 
West  on  the  12th  of  July,  crossing  over  from  Detroit  to  Sandwich. 
The  first  object  of  attack  was  the  British  fort  at  Maiden,  near  the 
debouchement  of  Detroit  river — the  strait  connecting  Lakes  St.  Clair 
and  Erie.     Owing  to  delay  on  the  part  of  Hull,  opportunity  was 
given  for  strengthening  the  garrison  at  this  place. 

While  the  army  remained  inactive,  about  the  middle  of  July,  the 
American  fort  at  Michiliinackinac  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  enemy, 
and,  shortly  after,  communication  by  the  land  route  with  Ohio,  was 
entirely  cut  off  by  a  party  of  Indians  under  Tecumseh.  Hull  there- 
fore recrossed  the  river,  with  his  entire  force,  and  occupied  Detroit. 
General  Proctor,  in  command  at  Maiden,  was  enabled  to  cooperate 
with  his  Indian  allies,  and  renewed  attem|>ts  on  the  part  of  the 
Americans  to  force  a  pa»<8age  of  the  road,  only  resulted  in  heavy  loss. 
Toward  the  middle  of  August,  General  Brock,  governor  of  L(^wer 
Canada,  having  hastened  to  the  scene  of  action,  assumed  command, 
and  advanced  upon  Detroit  with  his  wlio!e  army  of  British  and  In- 
dians, amounting,  in  all,  to  over  twelve  liundnd  men.  The  Amer- 
icans, occupying  a  defensible  position,  eiitertainetl  little  fears  of  being 
able  to  sustain  themselves;  but  what  was  the  astonislnnent  and  in- 
dignation of  the  army,  when  General  Hull,  sistheencmv  approached 
to  the  assault,  entered  intc  n  parley,  and  arranged  terms  of  surrender. 
All  the  regulars  and  volunteers  in  the  Amerieati  army  became  [>i  is- 


I  i!i 


862 


THE  PKOPLK'8   BOOK   OF  niBTORY. 


oners  of  war,  the  militia  being  pnroled,  and  the  whole  territory  ol 
Michigan  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  British. 

So  heavy  a  lost,  and  so  disgraceful  a  reverse,  at  this  first  opening 
of  the  campaign,  cou'd  not  be  patiently  endured.  Every  species  of 
opprobrium  was  heaped  upon  the  commanding  officer,  to  whoso  in- 
decision or  weakness  the  failure  was  wholly  attributed.  Put  upon 
trial,  by  court  martial,  long  aflerwards,  he  was  convicted  of  cow- 
ardice; but  his  character,  at  the  present  day,  stands  free  from  asper- 
sions thrown  oiiC  in  the  heat  of  disappointment,  and  his  failings — 
principally  over-coution,  and  a  want  of  that  promptness  and  energy 
which  are  so  necessary  in  a  military  leoder — ore  looked  upon  with 
greater  leniency. 

The  result  of  this  campaign,  unfortunately  for  the  American  inter- 
ests, wa.s  to  give  facilities  for  an  easy  nnd  constant  communication 
Ix'tween  the  British  and  the  confederate  tribes  of  the  north-west. 
The  latter  were  never  more  dangerous  enemies  than  at  tliis  period, 
provided,  as  they  were,  with  arms  by  their  English  allies,  led  by  a 
chief  of  surpassing  abilities  as  a  military  leader,  and  excited  by  su- 
perHtitious  confidence  in  their  Prophet  Elskwatawa. 

Upon  a  change  of  the  British  ministry,  in  the  month  of  June,  of 
this  year,  a  repeal  of  the  orders  in  council  as  to  American  veasels 
was  brought  about,  and  it  was  trusted  that  negotiations  might  now 
be  opened  for  a  peaceful  settlement  of  difficulties.  The  American 
government,  however,  declined  all  proposals  for  a  ."usponsion  of 
liostUities,  not  based  upon  a  proposed  adjustment  of  other  claims 
against  England.  The  matter  of  the  right  of  impressment  was  as 
far  as  ever  from  settlement;  the  British  absolutely  refused  to  yield 
the  point;  and  the  grievance  complained  of  had  now  become  more 
than  ever  intolerable.  The  number  of  native  born  American  citizens 
rendering  compulsory  service  in  the  British  navy  cannot  be  ascer- 
tained, but  those  who  claimed  exemption  on  this  ground  numbered 
between  three  and  four  thousand.  The  great  majority  of  these  were 
doubtless  foreigners,  but  their  right  to  protection,  if  not  British  sub- 
jects, was  as  clear  as  in  the  case  of  native  or  naturalized  citizens. 

While  all  the  acts  of  the  American  government  continued  to 
breathe  a  warlike  spirit,  many  obstacles  were  experienced  in  the  prac- 
tical operations  of  the  campaign.  It  was  difficult  to  procure  recruits 
by  voluntary  enlistment,  and  in  the  raising  of  a  militia  force,  con- 
tinual opposition  was  met  by  state  claims  of  sovereignty.  By  a  sin- 
gular transmutation,  the  federalists  at  this  crisis  were  the  sticklers 


THE  UN  ITED  8TATE8. 


368 


for  state  rights;  as  opposed  to  the  tnilitary  authority  of  the  pretjidf  nt, 
and  the  acta  of  congrcsM.  Several  states  refused  to  comply  with  the 
requisitions  of  government,  U|)on  the  ground  that  no  necessity  of  the 
kind  contemplated  by  the  act  respecting  draughts  of  militia,  could 
be  said  to  exist — that  there  was  ao  call  to  "execute  the  laws  of  the 
Union,  suppress  insurrections,  or  repel  invasion."  Questions  respect- 
ing the  employment  of  the  militia  in  foreign  territory,  and  their  claim 
to  be  commanded  by  their  own  officers,  if  of  superior  rank  to  any 
regular  officer  present,  gave  rise  to  great  difficulty  and  dissension. 

At  the  west,  early  in  the  autumn,  a  force  of  about  ten  thousand 
men  was  collected  for  the  defence  of  the  frontier,  and  for  operations 
against  the  British  and  Indians.  Governor  Harrison  was  appointed 
to  the  chief  command.  The  impracticable  nature  of  the  roads,  and 
the  difficulty  of  maintaining  an  army  in  the  wilderness,  impeded  the 
movement  of  any  large  body  of  troops,  and  nothing  was  effected, 
during  the  remainder  of  the  year,  further  than  the  destruction  of 
several  Indian  villages,  by  detached  parties.        <'  'i  'M^>  <<'  ,ir..tiii 

Upon  the  waters  which  separate  Canada  from  New  York,  a  still 
larger  force  than  that  under  Uarrison  was  stationed  at  various  points 
from  Niagara  to  Lake  Cbamplain.  On  the  ISth  of  October,  a  party 
of  less  than  three  hundred  men,  led  by  Colonel  Van  Rensselaer, 
crossed  Niagara  river  and  stormed  the  British  fort  at  Queenstown. 
They  were  to  have  been  supported  by  a  large  force,  sufficient  to 
maintain  possession,  and  resist  any  reinforcements  that  could  be 
brought  up  by  the  enemy,  but  during  the  embarkation,  the  principal 
portion  of  the  militia,  at  first  loud  in  protestations  of  eagerness  to 
invade  the  enemy's  territory,  taken  with  a  panic,  refused  to  cross. 
In  an  attempt  at  recovering  the  fort,  the  brave  General  Brock  fell, 
while  leading  his  men  to  the  assault. 

Notwithstiinding  their  success  at  the  first  onset,  the  event  proved 
disastrous  to  the  Americans.  A  strong  reinforcement  under  General 
Sheafe  came  to  the  assistance  of  the  enemy,  and  the  whole  invading 
division,  amounting— with  those  brought  across  during  the  contest— to 
more  than  a  thousand  men,  thrown  into  confusion,  and  out  off  from  re- 
treat, was  forced  to  surrender.  Nothing  further,  of  any  importance, 
was  accomplished  upon  the  frontier,  during  the  remainder  of  the  year. 
The  flaming  proclamation  of  General  Smyth,  and  the  patriotic  ardour 
expressed  by  the  militia  and  volunteers  who  composed  the  principal 
portion  of  the  army  of  the  north,  alike  ended  in  smoke.  While  the 
soldiers  accused  their  commanders  of  a  lack  of  energy,  and  inveighed 


864 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


against  vexatious  delays  and  general  mismanagement,  the  latter  bad 
abundant  ground  of  complaint  in  the  turbulence  and  insubordination 
of  the  new  recruits.  •  ?>  7r*^<  ^  .\ 

Experience  having  proved  the  necessity  of  establishing  a  marine 
force  on  the  lakes,  in  order  to  effect  any  thing  in  Canada,  a  movement 
for  this  purpose  was  commenced  in  the  month  of  September  pre- 
vious, at  Sackett's  Harbour,  under  direction  of  Captain  Chauncey. 
At  this  port,  situated  at  the  eastern  extremity  of  Lake  Ontario,  the 
keel  of  a  ship  was  laid,  and  a  number  of  trading  schooners  were 
purchased  and  armed.  A  small  sloop  of  war,  named  the  Oneida, 
had  been  previously  fitted  out,  and  was  also  under  Chauncey's  com- 
mand. With  this  little  fleel;,  some  bold  excursions  were  made  on  the 
lake,  a  British  armed  vessel  was  driven  into  Kingston  harbour,  and 
several  small  prizes  were  taken.  The  new  ship,  of  twenty-four 
guns,  was  completed  in  November,  and  was  called  the  Madison. 

Lieutenant  Elliot,  furnished  by  Chauncey  with  a  detachment  of 
seamen,  in  the  month  of  October,  succeeded  in  capturing  two  small 
armed  vessels  belonging  to  the  enemy,  and  lying  in  Niagara  river. 
He  also  commenced  preparations  for  future  operations  on  Lake  Erie, 
by  collecting  trading  vessels  at  Black  Bock,  and  providing  them  with 
suitable  armament. 

While  the  foimdation  was  thus  laid  for  further  brilliant  successes 
on  the  lakes,  successive  reports  of  the  unexpected  prowess  of  the 
little  United  States'  navy — consisting  of  but  seven  frigates,  (fit  for 
service),  two  sloops  of  war,  five  brigs,  and  a  fleet  of  gun-boats — gave 
rise  to  great  exultation  throughout  the  country. 

The  first  naval  engagement  of  importance,  took  place  on  the  19th 
of  August.  The  American  frigate  Constitution,  Captain  Hull,  cruis- 
ing off  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Lawrence,  fell  in  with  the  Guerriere,  a 
British  frigate  of  thirty-eight  guns,  commanded  by  Captain  Docres. 
The  former,  receiving  successive  broadsides  from  the  Guerriere, 
bore  down  in  silence  until  close  at  hand,  when  she  opened  such  an 
eKTective  fire  as  soon  to  disable  and  cripple  the  enemy.  The  en- 
gagement lasted  only  about  half  an  hour,  partly  at  close  quarters, 
and  when  the  Constitution  finally  cast  off,  all  the  masts  of  the 
Guerriere  had  gone  by  the  board.  The  latter  presently  struck, 
but  she  had  received  irreparable  injury,  and  was  set  on  fire  after  a 
transfer  of  her  crew  to  the  Constitution.  This  victory  was  attri- 
buted by  the  English  to  superiority  in  force.  The  Constitution, 
according  to  their  account,  "  nominally  mounting  but  forty-four  guns, 


THE  UNITED  STATES. 


866 


was,  in  reality,  little  short  of  a  seventy-four."  The  disparity  was 
by  no  means  as  great  aa  represented,  and  could  not  account  for  the 
result  of  the  engagement.  The  truth  seems  to  be,  that  in  this  as  in 
subsequent  affairs,  the  American  vessels  were  manoeuvred  in  a 
masterly  manner,  and  that  their  fire  was  given  with  better  aim  than 
that  of  their  antagonists. 

The  United  States'  sloop-of-war  Wasp,  under  Captain  Jones,  in 
chase  of  a  British  fleet  of  merchant  vessels,  in  the  month  of  October, 
encountered  the  Frolic,  a  brig  of  superior  force,  acting  as  convoy. 
After  a  mojt  destructive  and  desperate  engagement,  the  British 
vessel  was  carried  by  boarding.  The  loss  on  board  of  the  latter, 
was  about  eighty  in  killed  and  wounded ;  the  Americans  lost  but 
ten.  The  Wasp  was  so  much  crippled  in  her  rigging,  that,  to- 
gether with  her  prize,  she  was  shortly  after  captured  by  a  British 
seventy-four. 

A  few  days  later  the  frigate  United  States,  commanded  by  Deca- 
tur, captured  the  British  frigate  Macedonian,  in  the  vicinity  of  the 
Western  Islands.  The  American  vessel  was  somewhat  superior  in 
force,  but,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Guerriere,  not  sufficiently  so  to 
account  for  the  rapidity  with  which  she  disabled  her  opponent,  nor 
for  the  fact,  that  of  her  crew,  only  twelve  were  killed  or  wounded, 
while  the  loss  of  the  Macedonian  was  more  than  one  hundred.  The 
prize  was  taken  into  New  York  in  safety. 

During  the  summer  and  autumn,  the  Americans  lost  two  brigs-of- 
war,  the  Nautilus,  and  the  Vixen,  both  taken,  without  resistance, 
by  superior  force.  On  the  29th  of  December,  the  Constitution, 
under  command  of  Bainbridge,  engaged  the  British  frigate  Java,  of 
thirty-eight  guns.  The  contest,  commencing  at  a  distance,  and  end- 
ing at  close-quarters,  continued  for  several  hours,  when  the  Java, 
being  entirely  dismasted,  struck.  She  was  so  far  crippled,  that  it 
was  judged  expedient  to  destroy  her. 

While  the  national  pride  was  gratified  by  these  victories,  numer- 
ous privateers,  mostly  fitted  out  from  New  England  ports,  met  with 
great  success  in  plundering  the  British  merchant  vessels,  homeward 
bound  from  the  Indies.  Many  valuable  prizes  were  taken — not 
without  some  hard  fighting,  in  cases  where  the  trading  vessels 
were  armed. 

The  period  of  a  presidential  election  recurring  in  1812,  Madison 
was  reelected.  Elbridge  Gerry,  of  Massachusetts,  minister  to  France 
in  1797,  was  elevated  to  the  vice-presidency,  by  the  votes  of  the 


4      % 

i 


860 


THE    I'fiOPLE'S    BOOK   OF   HISTOKY. 


war-party.  Notwithstanding  a  violen*,  opposition,  perseverance  in 
hostile  measures  met  with  the  approbation  and  support  of  a  majority 
in  congress,  and  appropriations  were  made,  and  acts  passed,  for  the 
increase  of  the  national  force,  and  for  large  additions  to  the  navy. 

Military  operations  were  renewed  at  the  north-west,  early  in  the 
winter.  Several  Indian  villages  were  destroyed  in  December,  but 
nothing  of  importance  was  accomplished.  During  the  month  fol- 
lowing, a  detachment  of  Kentucky  troops,  under  General  Winches- 
ter, was  sent  forward  by  Harrison  to  take  a  position  at  the  Miami 
rapids.""  A  body  of  nearly  seven  hundred  of  these  pushed  on  to 
Frenchtown,  on  the  Eaisin,  then  occupied  by  British  and  Indians. 
The  first  attack  was  successful;  the  enemy  were  driven  from  the 
town,  and  the  Americans  were  reinforced  by  the  arrival  of  Win- 
chester with  additional  troops. 

On  the  22d,  General  Proctor,  having  crossed  over  from  Maiden, 
with  a  strong  force  of  regulars  and  Indians,  fell  upon  and  totally 
defeated  the  American  detachment.  The  commanding  officer  wu3 
taken  prisoner  early  in  the  engagement,  while  a  portion  of  the  Amer- 
ican* troops  yet  maintained  a  defensible  position.  The  general 
ordered  a  surrender,  upon  promises  of  protection  against  the  sav- 
ages. Instead  of  fulfilling  his  undertaking  in  this  respect,  Proctor 
marched  back  towards  Maiden,  with  such  prisoners  as  were  able  to 
travel,  leaving  the  wounded  unprotected  at  the  scene  of  combat. 
On  the  following  day,  no  small  {x)rtion  of  these  were  scalped,  tom- 
ahawked, or  burned  alive  in  the  houses  where  they  lay  disabled, 
by  a  party  of  Indians.  Harrison,  discontinuing  offensive  operations, 
fortified  himself  at  Fort  Meigs,  on  the  rapids. 

In  the  month  of  April,  1818,  he  was  besieged  at  this  post,  by  a 
Britieh  and  Indian  force,  under  Proctor.  Relieved  by  the  arrival 
of  reinforcements  from  Kentucky,  led  by  General  Clay,  he  succeeded 
in  holding  the  position,  but  a  considerable  body  of  these  fresh  forces 
was  utterly  defeated,  after  driving  the  British  from  a  position  where 
batteries  were  erected  to  bear  upon  Fort  Meigs.  This  disaster  is 
attributed  to  the  circumstance,  that,  instead  of  maintaining  orderly 
posaes^ion  of  the  works,  they  commenced  an  irregular  skirmish  with 
detac'ied  parties  of  Indians  in  the  surrounding  forest. 

On  the  New  York  frontier,  nothing  important  was  effected  by 
either  party  until  the  spring  was  far  advanced.  Near  the  close  of 
April,  a  detachment  of  sixteen  hundred  men  embarked  on  board 
Chauncey's  Ontario  sijuadron,  for  the  purjwjse  of  an  attack  upon  the 


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THE  UNITED   STATES. 


867 


Canadian  town  of  York.  The  place,  defended  by  a  garrison  of  six 
to  eight  hundred  men,  was  carried  by  storm,  but  at  the  moment  of 
success,  the  magazine  blew  up,  destroying  a  large  number  of  the 
assailants.  The  American  commander.  General  Pike,  was  among 
the  killed. 

The  squadron  returning  to  Sackett's  harbour,  took  on  board  fresh 
forces,  under  the  immediate  command  of  Dearborn,  and  immediately 
sailed  for  the  entrance  of  Niagara  river.  All  the  British  forts  in 
the  vicinity  were  seized,  the  principal  portion  of  the  garrisons 
retreating  to  the  heights  on  Burlington  bay — the  western  extremity 
of  Lake  Ontario.  In  an  attempt  at  pursuit,  a  few  days  later,  a 
detachment  of  the  Americans  sustained  considerable  loss,  and  two 
of  their  generals.  Chandler  and  Winder,  were  taken  prisoners.  The 
division  was  presently  recalled  to  Fort  George,  one  of  the  recently 
acquired  posts  on  the  Niagara.  A  second  expedition  against  the 
enemy  resulted  in  the  loss  of  an  entire  detachment  of  six  hundred 
men,  under  Colonel  Boerstler.  ,   ;  , 

A  vigorous  attack  upon  the  American  post  at  Sackett's  Harbour, 
in  the  latter  part  of  May,  was  repulsed  by  the  garrison,  aided  by 
New  York  militia,  under  General  Brown.  On  Lake  Champlain  the 
British  were  more  successful.  By  the  creation  of  a  superior  naval 
force,  they  obtained  command  of  those  waters,  and  did  much  in- 
jury to  the  neighbouring  settlements.  Plattsburgh,  on  the  western 
shore  of  the  lake,  was  plundered  and  destroyed,  "in  revenge,"  it 
was  said,  "for  the  affair  of  York;"  the  latter  having  been  a  second 
time  invaded  by  an  American  force,  under  Colonel  Scott 
Vol.  IV.— 52  ,      . 


■  I , 


i 


,)-.   ■  nr;,".'..     •  ;i,'  ii  •'  '     ••  lU! 
'     i  ■::  ;   !■    ■•)•'■     ■■    '    :      '■  . 


868 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  UISTOKY. 


CWADTTT'DTTTT  i. 

NATAL    AFFAIRS:    PERRY'S  VICTORY    ON    LAKE    ERIE.  —  HAR- 
RISON'S  CANADIAN   CAMPAIGN.  —  THE   NIAGARA   FRONTIER. 
— THE  CREEK   WAR:    JACKBON'S    CAMPAIGN.  —  NEGOTIA- 
TIONS FOR   PEACE.  —  BROWN'S    INVASION   OF   CANADA: 
BATTLE    OF    BRIDOEWATER.  —  OCCUPATION    OF    THE 
CHESAPEAKE:    BATTLE   OF    BL  AD  E  N  SBU  RO  H:    SEIZ- 
URE OF   WASHINGTON:   DESTRUCTION   OF   PUBLIC 
BUILDINGS:    ATTACK    ON    BALTIHORE. 


From  the  opening  of  the  campaign  of  1818,  the  British  naval 
force  on  the  coast,  considerably  augmented,  maintained  a  partial 
blockade  of  many  American  seaports.  Several  ships-of-war,  enter- 
ing the  Chesapeake,  cut  off  all  ingress  or  egress  for  American  ves- 
sels, and,  landing  parties  at  different  points,  did  much  damage,  and 
kept  the  neighbouring  country  in  a  state  of  anxiety  and  alarm. 

Upon  the  ocean,  the  credit  of  the  American  navy,  notwithstand- 
ing some  severe  reverses,  was  fully  maintained.  The  sloop-of-war 
Hornet,  under  Captain  Lawrence,  in  the  month  of  February,  en- 
gaged and  sunk  the  British  brig  Peacock  of  nearly  equal  force,  off 
the  coast  of  Demerara.  After  the  latter  had  struck  her  flag,  it  was 
ascertained  that  she  was  settling  fast  The  sea  was  rough,  and, 
although  every  exertion  was  made  to  save  the  crew,  she  went 
down  w'th  twelve  men  on  board,  three  of  whom  were  Americans, 
bfjlonginp;  to  the  Hornet. 

Captain  Lawrence  was  afterwards  promoted  to  the  command  of 
th«  ill-fated  Chesapeake,  then  lying  in  Boston  harbour.  On  the 
Ist  day  of  June,  the  British  frigate  Shannon,  Captain  Broke,  appear- 
ing off  the  port,  Lawrence  got  his  vessel  under  weigh  and  made 
sail,  to  answer  the  implied  challenge.  The  ships  were  of  equal 
force,  but  the  American  frigate  laboured  under  the  disadvantage  of 
having  on  board  an  ill-disciplined  crew,  and  a  deficiency  of  compe- 
tent officers.  An  engagement — watched  from  shore  with  intense 
interest — took  place  late  in  the  afternoon.  The  Chesapeake,  par- 
tially crippled  during  a  heavy  fire  at  close-quarters,  was  carried  by 
boarding,  her  commander  lying,  at  the  time,  mortally  wounded. 
While  he  reUiiued  possession  of  his  faculties,  he  refused  to  order  the 


THE   UNITED   STATES. 


869 


flag  to  be  struck,  and  among  his  last  words,  was  the  expression, 
"Don't  give  up  the  ship." 

In  the  course  of  the  summer,  the  American  sloop-of-war  Argus, 
after  taking  a  great  number  of  prizes  in  the  British  channel,  was 
captured  by  the  English  sloop-of-war  Pelican.  Captain  Porter,  in 
command  of  the  second  class  frigate  Essex,  did  valuable  service  in 
the  Pacific  during  the  summer  and  autumn  of  1812.  The  operations 
of  American  whalers  had  been  interrupted,  and  rendered  precarious 
by  the  general  commission  and  arming  as  privateers  of  those  vessels 
from  Great  Britain,  that  were  engaged  in  a  similar  occupation. 
Many  of  the  latter  were  made  prizes  by  Porter,  and  effectual  pro- 
tection was  extended  to  American  shipping. 

The  Essex  was  attacked,  in  the  month  of  December  following, 
while  at  anchor  in  the  neutral  port  of  Valparaiso,  by  two  British 
vessels  of  war,  the  Phoebe  and  Cherub,  and,  after  a  severe  engage- 
ment, was  compelled  to  strike.  The  enemy,  having  heavier  guns, 
were  enabled  to  keep  up  a  destructive  fire  at  a  distance  too  great 
for  those  of  the  Essex  to  be  effective. 

Operations  of  far  greater  importance,  meanwhile,  had  taken  place 
on  the  great  lakes.  On  Lake  Erie  a  squad' jn  of  nine  vessels,  mostly 
small  craft,  carrying  in  all  fifty-four  guns,  was  put  under  command 
of  Commodore  Perry.  The  British  fleet  at  the  lake,  under  Barclay, 
consisted  of  six  vessels,  the  whole  number  of  guns  on  board  being 
sixty-three.  There  was  no  great  disparity  in  the  number  of  men 
on  either  side,  but  those  of  the  American  fleet  are  said  to  have  been 
better  selected  and  more  capable  seamen. 

An  engagement  took  place,  on  the  10th  of  September,  in  the 
open  lake,  between  Maiden  and  Sandusky.  The  wind  was  very 
light,  and  Perry,  advancing  unsupported,  in  the  Lawrence,  was 
exposed  to  a  heavy  and  disabling  fire  from  the  long  guns  of  the 
enemy.  His  vessel  was  completely  crippled  before  the  others  could 
come  up,  and  the  commodore  was  compelled  to  abandon  her.  In 
an  open  boat,  exposed  to  a  heavy  fire,  he  went  on  board  the  Ni- 
agara. The  wind  having  freshened,  the  whole  squadron  was  soon 
brought  up  to  support  the  larger  vessels,  and  the  action  continued, 
with  such  energy  and  effect,  that  the  British  fleet  was  compelled 
to  surrender. 

This  victory  was  no  less  a  cause  for  national  rejoicing  as  another 
instance  of  superiority  upon  the  water,  than  for  the  great  importance 
of  its  results.     The  command  of  Lake  Erie  rendered  practicable  the 


870 


TUE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HI8T0KY. 


transportation  of  forces  to  any  given  point  upon  an  extensive  front- 
ier, and  made  it  equally  irnprevisable  by  the  enemy.  At  the  close 
of  the  month,  Harrison  and  his  army  were  conveyed  across  the 
lake  to  Maiden,  which  was  abandoned  by  Proctor  at  his  approach. 

The  retreating  army,  pursued  up  Thames  river,  made  a  stand  on 
the  5th  of  October,  near  Moravian  town,  above  the  forks.  Including 
his  Indian  allies,  led  by  Tecumseh,  Proctor  conmanded  a  force  of 
about  two  thousand  eight  hundred  men ;  that  of  Harrison  was  rather 
inferior  in  numbers.  The  British  were  posted  on  the  right  bank, 
between  the  river  and  extensive  swamps — the  latter  occupied  by 
Indians.  The  attack  was  commenced  by  the  charge  of  a  mounted 
regiment  under  Colonel  Johnson;  the  British  line  was  broken,  and 
a  complete  victory  obtained  by^the  Americans.  The  Indians  in  the 
Bwamp  held  their  ground  until  the  fall  of  their  leader — who,  it  is 
said,  was  shot  with  a  pistol  by  Colonel  Johnson. 

The  greater  portion  of  the  British  regular  force  surrendered,  as;, 
prisoners  of  war.  The  great  north-western  Indian  confederacy  was 
broken  up  by  this  event,  and  the  separate  tribes  sent  in  deputations 
suing  for  peace.  Treaties  were  subsequently  ratified  with  most 
of  them. 

During  the  autumn,  extensive  preparations  were  made  at  the 
north  for  an  attack  on  Montreal.  Dearborn  had  been  succeeded  in 
the  chief  command  by  General  Wilkinson,  Much  difterence  of 
opinion  existed  between  the  latter  and  the  secretary  of  war.  General 
Armstrong,  and  to  this  circumstance  the  ill-success  of  the  expedition 
has  been  partially  attributed.  A  force  of  seven  or  eight  thousand 
men,  concentrated  at  Grenadier  island,  was  to  descend  the  St. 
Lawrence  and  cooperate  with  a  division  of  four  thousand,  under 
General  Hampton,  ordered  to  march  from  Plattsburgh,  on  Lake  Cham- 
plain.  The  advance  of  this  latter  portion  of  the  army  was  checked 
by  a  few  militia,  whose  force  was  overrated  by  the  American  gen- 
eral; and,  the  approach  of  winter  adding  to  the  difficulties  of  a 
campaign,  a  retreat  was  ordered,  and  the  army  returned  to  itB 
former  quarters. 

Wilkinson  pushed  down  the  St.  Lawrence,  greatly  annoyed  by 
the  enenjy,  who  followed  in  the  wake  of  his  flotilla  with  gun -boats, 
and  who  occupied  every  convenient  stand,  on  the  shore,  from  which 
they  might  cotnmaiid  the  passage.  It  became  necessary  to  land  a 
large  detachment,  to  follow  the  course  of  the  river  by  land,  and 
open  a  way  for  the  boats.     On  the  11th  of  November,  quite  a  severe 


TECU  MSB  U. 


«.. 


THK   UNITED   STATES. 


871 


engagement  took  place  between  this  division  and  a  body  of  the 
enemy,  at  Chrysler's  farm,  in  which  the  Americans  lost  between 
three  and  four  hundred  men. 

Arriving  at  St.  Rtgis,  Wilkinson  learned  the  failure  of  Hnmpton'a 
attempt  at  forming  a  junction  with  the  main  force.  The  lateness 
of  the  season  was  unfavourable  for  further  action,  and,  although 
Montreal  was  defended  by  a  very  small  force,  it  was  decided  to 
abandon  the  expedition.  The  main  army  went  into  winter^quarters 
at  French  mills.  ■  , 

The  frontier,  left  unprotected  by  the  withdrawal  of  the  regular 
troops  from  the  garrisoned  posts,  and  by  the  expiration  of  the  term 
of  service  of  militia  and  volunteers,  suffered  severely  from  the  rav- 
ages of  the  enemy.  General  M'Clure,  compelled  to  abandon  Fort 
George,  on  the  Niagara,  set  fire  to  the  village  of  Newark,  which  was 
reduced  to  ashes,  and  its  inhabitants  were  left  without  a  shelter, 
in  the  inclement  month  of  December.  His  instructions  were  to  take 
this  course,  if  necessary  for  the  defence  of  the  fort;  but  the  circum- 
stances warranted  no  such  outrage,  and,  in  retaliation,  the  Indian 
allies  of  the  British  were  encouraged  to  plunder  and  lay  waste  the 
frontier  villages  on  the  American  side.  On  the  80th  of  December, 
the  towns  of  Black  Rock  and  Buffalo  were  entirely  destroj'cd  by  an 
invading  party  of  the  enemy. 

Meanwhile,  the  m.-'chinationa  of  Tecumseh  had  produced  their 
full  effect  at  the  south.  The  formidable  Creek  confederacy  had 
comn:3nced  open  war  upon  the  white  settlers.  The  first  important 
blow  struck,  was  at  Fort  Mimms,  on  the  Alabama  river,  in  the 
Tensaw  settlement,  which  was  sacked  on  the  80th  of  August,  by  a 
large  body  of  Indians,  under  the  noted  chief  Weatherford.  The 
garrison,  one  hundred  and  sixty  in  number,  with  more  than  a  hun- 
dred inhabitants  of  the  neighbourhood,  of  every  age  and  sex,  who 
had  sought  protection  at  the  fort,  were  nearly  all  killed  in  the  fight, 
or  perished  in  the  burning  buildings. 

A  large  force  was  raised  in  Tennessee,  and  put  under  command 
of  General  Jackson,  for  the  purpose  of  checking  the  ravages  of  the 
Indians.  Marching  into  the  Creek  territory  in  the  month  of  Octo- 
ber, Jackson  beat  up  the  enemy's  quarters  at  Tallussahachee  creek, 
a  tributary  of  the  Coosa,  and  relieved  a  post  occupied  by  friendly 
Indians  at  Talladega,  further  down  the  stream,  de;droying  several 
hundred  of  the  hostile  party.  In  other  engagements,  the  Creeks 
were  worsted,  but  their  spirit  seemed  unconquerable,  and,  as  they 


872 


THE  PEOl'LE'S   BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


had  formed  on  idea  that  no  quarter  would  be  given  them,  they 
lought  with  great  cor  rage  and  deHperation. 

Little  was  accomplished  during  the  winter,  on  account  of  the 
extreme  difficulty  of  maintaining  an  army  in  the  wilderness.  The 
skill  and  energy  displayed  by  General  Jackson,  in  preserving  dis- 
cipline, and  securing  supplies  for  his  troops  under  these  trying  cir- 
cumstances, gained  him  even  greater  reputation  than  his  brilliant 
achievements  in  actual  warfare.  In  the  month  of  March,  1814, 
about  one  thousand  of  the  Creek  worriors  fortified  themselves  at 
the  Great  IIorse-Shoe-Bend,  in  the  Tallapoosie. 

On  the  27th,  they  were  surrounded  and  attacked  by  a  vastly 
superior  force  of  whites  and  friendly  Indians.  They  fought  with 
fury  to  the  last,  firing — perhaps  through  ignorance — upon  the  bearer 
of  a  flag,  who  was  sent  forward  by  Jackson  to  propose  a  surrender. 
More  than  half  their  nutnber  were  killed  in  the  attack;  great  num- 
bers perished  in  the  river,  and  but  a  handful  of  the  whole  number 
effected  their  escape.  Very  few  of  the  men  were  taken  prisoners, 
but,  after  the  battle,  several  hundred  women  and  children  were 
secured.  The  various  tribes,  after  this  event,  were  ready  to  con- 
clude a  peace,  and  to  confine  themselves  within  their  territory,  east- 
ward from  the  Coosa. 

At  the  winter  session  of  congress,  1818-14,  the  exigencies  of  the 
war  were  met  by  the  adoption  of  new  schemes  for  procuring  funds. 
Direct  taxes,  loans,  additional  duties,  &c.,  were  resorted  to.  T' 
war-party,  still  in  the  ascendency,  favoured  the  views  of  the  prvsi- 
dent,  atxl,  upon  his  recommendation,  an  embargo  was  laid  ujn>n  ull 
goods,  produce,  &c.,  which  could  be  of  service  to  the  eneuiy.  Im- 
portations of  British  goods  were  also  expressly  prohibited. 

Early  ia  January,  a  proposition  to  treat  for  peace,  \\  as  received 
from  England,  and  commissioners  were  appointed  to  proceed  to 
Gottingen  for  the  purpose.  Previous  offers  of  mediation,  made  by 
the  Emperor  of  Russia,  had  been  repeatedly  proposed  to  the  British 
government,  and  as  often  rejected.  Intelligence  of  Napoleon's 
reverses,  brought  over  at  the  same  time  with  the  British  peace  em- 
bassy, was  not  without  its  influence,  in  fortifying  the  policy  of 
pacific  measures. 

No  military  movements  of  importance,  took  place  at  the  north 
during  the  winter  and  spring.  Toward  the  close  of  March,  General 
AVilkinson  marched  from  Plattsburgh  across  the  Canadian  boundary, 
with  a,  force  of  four  thousand  men,  but  the  inva.>ion  resulted  in 


THE   UNITED   STATES. 


873 


nothing  but  loss  and  defeat.    He  soon  after  resigned  his  commission, 
and  was  succeeded  by  General  Izard. 

At  the  instance  of  the  American  generals,  Brown  and  Scott,  a 
new  army  of  invasion  was  collected  in  the  vicinity,  pf  Niagara, 
Between  three  and  four  thousand  men  were  transported  across  the 
river  at  Buffalo,  on  the  night  of  July  2d,  and  after  accomplishing 
the  seizure  of  Fort  Erie,  pushed  on  towards  Chippewa,  in  the  imme- 
diate neighbourhood  of  the  Falls,  where  a  British  army,  of  equal 
force,  commanded  by  General  Riall,  lay  encamped.  A  severe 
engagement  took  place  on  the  5th,  in  which  the  British  were'  de- 
feated, with  a  loss  of  five  hundred  men.  Riall  retreated  to  Burling- 
ton heights.  A  few  weeks  later  he  was  joined  by  large  additional 
forces  from  York,  under  General  Drummond. 

The  American  army,  marching  towards  Queenstown,  (July  25th,) 
encountered  the  enemy  at  Bridgewater,  hard  by  the  Falls  of  Niagara. 
Although  the  British  had  taken  a  position  in  which  their  artillery, 
posted  upon  a  hill,  could  command  the  field,  and  although  the  day 
was  nearly  spent,  the  Americans  commenced  an  attack  without 
hesitation. 

A  regiment  under  Major  Jessup,  making  a  detour,  came  upon  the 
rear  of  the  enemy,  while  General  Scott,  with  the  advanced  division 
of  the  army,  attacked  in  front.  The  main  force  coming  up,  the 
battle  became  general,  and  a  bloody  and  desperate  conflict  was 
waged  through  half  the  night,  by  the  light  of  the  moon.  The 
British  battery,  which  had  at  first  proved  terribly  destructive,  was 
gallantly  stormed  by  Colonel  Miller,  with  a  battalion  from  the  artil- 
lery corps.  Possession  of  the  hill  was  maintained  against  repeated 
assaults  until  the  fighting  ceased. 

The  Americans  kept  temporary  possession  of  the  field,  and  there- 
fore claimed  the  victory.  The  loss  on  either  side  was  heavy,  amount- 
ing to  seven  or  eight  hundred.  The  British  general  Riall  was 
wounded,  and  taken  prisoner  by  Jessup's  detachment.  Generals 
Brown  and  Scott  were  both  so  severely  wounded  as  to  incapacitate 
them  from  present  service,  and  General  Ripley  assumed  command. 
Little  advantage  was  gained  in  the  engagement,  further  than  as  it 
inspired  general  confidence  in  the  capacity  of  the  American  oflUcers, 
and  the  bravery  of  tlie  troops.  The  battle  has  commonly  received 
its  designation  from  the  neighbouring  locality  of  "Lundy's  Lane." 
It  was  im[>o«aible  to  remove  the  cannon  from  the  British  battery,  and 
they  were  therefore  recovered  upon  the  departure  of  the  Americans. 


fl74 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  0*   U18T0BY. 


The  latter  retreated  to  Fort  Erie,  where  they  strengthened  their 
position  in  anticipation  of  siege  by  a  sup/ior  force.  The  post  was 
beset  accordingly  on  the  4th  of  August,  by  General  Drummond, 
with  over  four  thousand  men.  On  the  15th,  an  attempt  to  carry  it 
by  storm  was  signally  repulsed.  In  September,  General  Brown 
rgassumed  command  of  the  forces  at  Fort  Erie,  and,  as  the  siege  had 
continued  for  more  thati  a  month,  and  supplies  were  with  difficulty 
to  be  procured,  he  attempted  a  sortie.  So  skillfully  and  boldly  was 
the  movement  conducted,  that  the  British  guns  were  spiked,  their 
magazines  blown  up,  and  some  four  or  five  hundred  prisoners  taken. 
The  whole  loss  of  the  besiegers  fell  little  short  of  a  thousand  men ; 
that  of  the  sallying  party  was  about  five  hundred.  Drummond 
shortly  afier  drew  off  his  forces.  '    i>i."i"  ,--';-' 

Believed  from  the  burden  of  maintaining  war  upon  the  European 
continent,  and  with  abundance  of  vote  van  troops,  and  a  powerful 
navy,  at  liberty  for  transatlantic  service.  Great  Britain  commenced 
more  directly  offensive  operations  in  America  A  fleet  commanded 
by  Admiral  Cochrane  entered  the  Chesapeu/  ;  d,  passing  up 
Patuxent  river,  reached  Benedict  on  the  19  August  (1814). 

Between  four  and  five  thousand  troops,  mostly  trained  in  the  school  of 
continental  service,  were  landed  at  this  point,  and,  under  command 
o.  General  Boss,  took  up  their  line  of  march  towards  Washington. 

As  the  army  approached  Marlborough,  the  American  fleet  of 
gun-boats,  &c.,  lying  at  that  place,  was  destroyed,  to  prevent  its 
seisr.ure  by  the  enemy.  General  Winder,  of  Baltimore,  who  held 
command  in  that  quarter,  with  a  thousand  regulars,  and  authority 
to  call  out  the  militia  within  a  specified  district,  made  what  prepara- 
tions were  practicable  to  resist  the  British  advance.  The  whole 
force  that  he  was  enabled  to  collect  and  arm,  fell  short  of  four 
thousand  men,  and  these  were  in  the  most  unserviceable  and  un- 
disciplined condition — what  stand  could  they  be  expected  to  make 
against  a  superior  force  of  the  "  veterans  of  the  Peninsula?" 

The  British  march  was  unopposed,  until  the  army,  on  the  24tl), 
reached  Bladensburgh,  six  miles  from  the  capitol,  on  the  East  bank 
of  the  Potomac.  Here  the  American  forces  were  posted  on  the 
right  bank,  the  bridge  over  the  stream  being  commanded  by  several 
pieces  of  artillery,  in  charge  of  Commodore  Barney,  who  was  pres- 
ent with  his  corps  of  five  hundred  marines,  before  attached  to  tlie 
flotilla  destroyed  nt  Marlborough.  This  body  of  men  fought  bravely 
and  obstinately,  holding  the  enemy  in  check  af\er  the  militia  bad 


THE    UNITED    STATES. 


375 


been  routed  and  dispersed.  Their  flank  was  finally  turned,  and 
they  were  compelled  to  join  in  a  general  retreat.  The  loss  on  the 
part  of  the  Americans  was  but  about  fifty  in  killed  and  wounded. 

Abandoning  the  capitol  to  the  enemy,  Winder  en  w  off  his  forces 
to  the  heights  of  Georgetown,  and,  on  the  evening  of  the  day  of 
the  battle,  the  British  army  entered  Washington,  and  burned  the 
capitol,  the  president's  house,  and  most  of  the  public  buildings. 
This  malicious  destruction  of  valuable  libraries,  records,  &c.,  is 
stigmatized  by  one  of  their  own  writers  as  "a  piece  of  Vandalism 
that  covered  the  expedition  with  disgrace ;"  it  was  excused  as  being 
in  retaliation  for  the  burning,  by  the  Americans,  of  the  Canadian 
Parliament  llouse  at  York. 

On  the  night  of  the  25th,  after  accomplishing  some  further  injury 
— not  entirely  confined  to  public  property — the  invading  army  was 
drawn  off,  and  marched  back  towards  Benedict.  A  reembarkation 
was  ettected  on  the  30th.  Meantime,  some  of  the  larger  vessels 
having  entered  the  Potomac,  made  their  way  up  to  Alexandria; 
where  all  the  shipping  in  port  was  seized,  and  a  large  amount  of 
provisions  and  valuable  stores  was  exacted  from  the  inhabitants. 

The  vicinity  of  Baltimore  was  the  next  scene  of  operations  by  the 
armament  in  the  Chesapeake.  The  inhabitants  of  that  city,  fore- 
warned of  danger,  were  prepared  for  defence.  Boss  landed  at 
North  Point,  at  the  entrance  of  Patapsco  river,  fifteen  miles  from 
the  city,  on  the  12th  of  September,  wii!^  a  force  of  five  thousand 
men.  The  defence  was  conducted  by  Genein^l  Smith.  An  advanced 
detachment  of  three  thousand  men,  under  General  Striker,  was 
compelled  to  retire  before  the  invading  columns;  but  in  the  first 
mel^e  Ross  was  killed,  and  the  command  devolved  on  Colonel 
Brooke. 

Owing  to  the  shallowness  of  the  entrance  of  the  harbour,  and  the 
gallant  defence  of  the  protecting  forts,  M'Uenry  and  Covington,  the 
British  fleet  was  unable  to  cooperate  with  the  land  forces,  and  the 
city  appearing  too  well  defended  to  render  an  attack  advisable,  the 
attetiipt  was  abandoned.  The  troops  rCenibarked  on  the  night  of 
the  18th,  and  shortly  after,  the  fleet  sailed  for  the  S()uth. 


;i 


876 


THE   PEOPLE'S   BOOK  OF  HIST0R7. 


'  i.   1  I      '  f 


OPERATIONS  ON  THE  COAST  OF  MAINE. — ATTACK  ON  FLATTS- 

BUROH:   BiTTLB  OF  LAKE  CHAHFLAIN. — NAVAL  AFFAIRS: 

/lAFITTE.  —  NEGOTIATION  AT   GHENT. —  THE   HART-      ., 

,,.',        FORD  CONVENTION. — TREATY  OF  PEACE. — JACK-         *.     • 

SON'S  DEFENCE  OF  NEW  ORLEANS:  BATTLE  OF 

JANUARYS. — NAVAL  BN6A0EHENTS. 


In  pursuance  of  their  plans  of  oftence,  the  British  made  a  descent, 
in  September,  (1814),  upon  the  coast  of  Maine.  They  took  nominal 
possession  of  all  the  eastern  district,  and  seized  upon  several  towns 
and  villages  on  Penobscot  bay;  but  the  most  substantial  injury 
inflicted  upon  the  Americans  in  this  quarter  was  the  destruction  of 
the  frigate  John  Adams.  This  vessel  was  pursued  up  Penobscot 
river  by  a  strong  detachment,  and,  after  an  attempt  at  defence,  was 
set  on  fire,  by  order  of  her  commander,  to  prevent  her  falling  into 
the  enemy's  hands. 

At  the  same  time,  Plattsburgh,  on  Champlain,  was  threatened  by 
a  powerful  array  of  land  and  naval  forces.  The  former  consisted  of 
twelve  thousand  disciplined  troops,  mostly  veteran  soldier?,  com- 
manded by  Governor  George  Prevost;  the  latter  under  Commo- 
dore Downie,  numbered  sixteen  vessels,  the  largest  carrying  thirty- 
seven  guns;  the  whole  flotilla,  including  gun-boats,  mounted  nearly 
one  hundred  guns,  and  had  on  board  about  a  thousand  men. 

Plattsburgh  was  defended  by  about  six  thousand  troops — regulars 
and  militia  from  adjoining  states — and  by  the  squadron  under  Com- 
modore M'Donough,  which  was  anchored  at  the  entrance  of  the 
harbour.  The  American  fleet  was  slightly  inferior  to  tiiat  of  the 
British,  both  in  number  of  vessels,  of  guns,  and  of  men  on  board. 
The  Saranac  river  divided  the  opposing  land  forces;  the  British  had 
been  occupied  for  some  days  previous  to  the  general  engagement, 
strengthening  their  position  on  the  left  bank. 

On  the  morning  of  September  11,  an  attack  was  commenced  by 
the  enemy  both  by  land  and  water.  M'Donough's  squadron,  lying 
in  a, favourable  position,  had  an  advantage  at  the  commencement  of 


TilE    UNITED    STATES. 


877 


ibo  engagement,  which  'vas  maintained  until  its  close.  The  prin- 
cipal encounter,  by  whi-jh  the  fortune  of  the  day  was  decided,  took 
place  between  the  Saratoga,  the  American  flag  ship,  and  the  Confi- 
ance,  commanded  by  Downie.  Pouring  in  a  succession  of  broadsides, 
the  guns  of  either,  on  the  exposed  side,  were  mostly  silenced.  Both 
vessels  then  attempted  to  take  new  positions,  by  which  their  other 
guns  might  be  made  available.  The  Saratoga  succeeded;  but  the 
British  ship,  failing  to  accomplish  the  'nlended  movement,  lay  help- 
lessly exposed  to  a  raking  fire,  and  wa..  forced  to  strike.  Between 
eleven  and  twelve  o'clock,  the  whole  fleet  having  followed  this 
example,  the  engagement  ceased.  The  gun-boats,  however,  made 
their  escape,  while  the  attention  of  the  Americans  was  occupied 
in  securing  their  prizes. 

Meanwhile,  the  land  division,  attempting  to  ford  the  Saranac,  met 
with  a  severe  and  decided  repulse;  and  upon  the  conclusion  of  the 
naval  engagement,  a  retreat  was  ordered.  The  expedition  thus 
ended  in  signal  failure  and  defeat.  The  loss  of  the  British  in  killed, 
wounded,  prisoners,  and  deserters,  is  said  to  have  exceeded  two 
thousand  men. 

During  the  autumn,  the  British  navy  obtained  entire  command  of 
the  sea-coast;  and  in  the  Ontario,  a  large  ship,  recently  fitted  out  at 
Kingston,  kept  possession  of  the  lake.  The  Wasp  and  the  Peacock 
were  the  last  American  armed  vessels  upon  service  abroad  at  this 
season.  The  first  of  these,  after  taking  many  prizes,  among  others, 
two  British  national  vessels,  foundered  at  sea,  or  went  to  pieces  on 
some  unknown  coast,  as  she  was  never  afterwards  heard  from.  The 
Peacock,  eluding  the  blockade,  came  safe  to  port,  having  made  a 
successful  cruise,  and  captured  a  number  of  merchant  vessels. 

Another  piece  of  service  was  accomplished  in  the  month  of  Octo- 
ber, by  an  expedition  under  Commodore  Patterson,  against  a  settle- 
ment of  French  rovers,  who  harboured  at  Barataria  bay,  a  short 
distance  westward  from  the  mouth  of  the  Mississippi.  These  out- 
laws professed  to  cruise  exclusively  against  Spanish  commerce,  but 
they  were  considered  as  little  other  .han  pirates.  One  of  their 
number  was  the  noted  Lafitte,  concerning  whom  as  many  improba- 
ble tales  have  been  told  as  those  connected  with  the  piracies  of  Kidd. 
Ten  vessels,  belonging  to  this  fraternity,  were  seized,  after  being 
deserted  by  iheir  crews. 

About  this  time  arrived  reports  from  the  commissioners  appointed 
to  treat  for  peace.     Negotiations  had  been  opened  at  Ghent,  but  the 


I 


rj  -f] 


f 


878 


THE  PEOPLE'S   BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


demands  of  Great  Britain  were  too  extravagant  to  require  a  moment'§ 
consideration.  Among  other  requisitions,  the  United  States  were 
called  upon  to  forego  any  future  acquisition  of  Indian  lands  at  the 
north-west;  to  abstain  from  providing  for  frontier  defence  by  forts, 
or  a  flotilla  on  the  lakes;  to  cede  a  portion  of  the  north-eastern  ter- 
ritory to  Great  Britain;  and  to  give  up  their  privileges  respecting 
the  coast  fishery. 

The  friends  of  the  administration,  at  this  juncture,  were  alarmed 
and  indignant  at  a  movement  in  New  England,  which  threatened  a 
more  serioua  rupture  between  different  sectituis  of  the  Union  than 
any  that  had  preceded  it  In  response  to  a  call  by  the  legislature  of 
Massachusetts,  delegates  were  appointed  from  all  the  New  England 
states — in  Massachusetts,  Connecticut,  and  Rhode  Island,  chosen 
directly  by  the  legislatures — to  meet  at  Hartford  on  the  15th  of  De- 
cember, for  the  purpose  of  devising  and  proposing  such  amendments 
to  the  constitution  as  might  secure  rights  of  representation,  &c.,  to  the 
northern  states,  equal  to  such  as  were  enjoyed  by  those  of  the  south, 
and  for  general  consultation  upon  the  "danger  to  which  the  eastern 
section  of  the  Union"  was  "exposed  by  the  course  of  the  war." 

Notwithstanding  a  vast  amount  of  obloquy,  and  wide-spread  accusa- 
tion of  treasonable  designs,  the  convention  met  accordingly,  and,  after 
a  secret  session  of  between  two  and  three  weeks,  the  delegates  submit- 
ted an  address  to  the  New  Kngland  legislatures,  setting  forth  the  con- 
clusions at  which  they  hail  arrived.  These,  in  addition  to  a  recitation 
of  grievances,  related  principally  to  the  disputed  question  respecting 
the  power  of  the  federal  gove.-ntnent  over  the  militia;  and  to  the 
measures  requisite  for  local  defence  against  the  enemy.  The  pro- 
posed constitutional  atnendinents  were  chiefly  advisory — that  the 
power  of  congress  in  respect  to  warlike  measures  should  be  curtailed 
by  the  requirement  of  a  iwo-tiiirds  vote,  and  that  slaves  should  be  ex- 
cluded in  the  representative  computation.  The  general  tone  of  the 
document  was  more  moderate  and  less  treasonable  than  had  been 
uiiticipated. 

The  ces-^ation  of  war  in  Europe  having  removed  all  substantial 
occasion  for  further  collision  of  inttirest  between  Great  Britain  and 
the  United  States,  the  former  abated  her  demands,  and  a  treaty  of 
|)eace  was  signed  at  Ghent  in  the  month  of  December.  The  claims 
respecting  itiipressment  and  riglit  of  search  were  left  undecided,  as 
only  relating  to  a  state  of  war  which  it  were  unnecessary  to  autici 
pate;  privileges  formerly  enjoyed  by  the  United  States'  fishermen 


THE  UNITED  STATES. 


879 


on  the  British  American  coast,  and  a  right  of  navigation  in  the  Mis- 
sisflippi,  before  secured  to  Great  Britain,  were  abandoned;  in  all 
other  respects  the  parties  remained  in  statu  quo.  'i      , 

This  joyful  intelligence  did  not  reach  the  United  States  until  Feb- 
ruary, a  period  when  the  whole  nation  was  rejoicing  over  the  most 
brilliant  piece  of  success  that  had  attended  its  arms  on  land,  through- 
out the  war.  In  the  month  of  November,  General  Jackson,  being  in 
occupation  of  Ponsacola,  temporarily  seized  from  the  Spanish  au- 
thorities on  account  of  the  landing  of  British  forces  in  that  quarter, 
obtained  information  of  an  intended  attack  upon  New  Orleana 
After  forwarding  orders  for  raising  militia,  and  for  other  defensive 
preparations,  he  repaired  thither  in  person,  and  arrived,  with  a  small 
force  of  regulars,  on  the  Ist  of  December. 

With  all  the  ardour  and  energy  of  his  character,  he  engaged  in 
the  difficult  work  of  organizing  an  army,  from  materials  the  most  in- 
congruous and  ill-BU'tpil  to  regular  military  operations.  Men  of 
different  nations  and  colour,  utterly  unused  to  the  discipline  of  a 
camp;  convicts  from  the  prisons;  a  portion  of  those  pirates  or  pri- 
vateers previously  ousted  from  Barataria;  were  marshalled  and  put 
in  such  condition  for  service  as  time  and  circumstances  would  admit. 
The  work  of  throwing  up  fortifications  was  oarried  on  with  uninter- 
mitting  ardour.  .  ,,u     ... 

In  the  midst  of  these  preparations,  and  before  the  arrival  of  troops 
expected  from  Kentucky  and  Tennessee,  upon  which  the  general 
placed  his  chief  reliance,  a  British  fleet  appeared  at  the  entrance  of 
Lake  Borgne.  This  was  the  squadron  recently  occupying  the  Ches- 
apeake, together  with  other  vessels  from  England,  bringing  over 
large  reinforcements  of  troops.  The  whole  force,  including  sailors 
and  marines,  exceeded  fifteen  thousand  men.  Most  of  the  troops 
had  been  disciplined  and  inured  to  service  in  the  continental  war. 
The  American  flotilla  of  gun-boats  on  the  lake  made  a  gallant  de- 
fence, but  was  finally  captured,  and  the  main  British  force,  passing 
up  in  boats,  eflected  a  landing  at  the  western  shore. 

The  advanced  division  of  two  thousand  men,  after  gaining  the 
bank  of  the  Mississippi,  fifteen  miles  below  the  city,  commenced  its 
march  up  the  river.  On  the  night  of  December  23d,  a  spirited  attack 
was  made  by  the  Americans  upon  this  detachment,  a  schooner  in 
the  river  opening  fire  at  the  same  time  that  the  engagement  com- 
mcncvvi  on  shore.  The  British,  attaining  a  defensible  position,  finaHf 
nminta.  x^d  their  ground,  and  the  assailants  drew  off. 


t  J 


1 4 


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880 


TUE  PEOPLE'S   BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


Roinforcementa  had  meanwhile  arrived  from  Tennessee  and  Mia 
sissippi,  until  the  force  at  New  Orleans  amounted  to  about  five  thou- 
sand men.  The  emergency  of  the  occasion,  and  the  disturbed 
condition  of  the  city,  induced  Jackson  to  proclaim  martial  law,  and 
to  take  such  measures  as  should  prevent  the  legislative  assembly 
from  counteracting  his  plans  of  defence  by  any  ofifers  of  capitulation. 
The  governor,  Claibourne,  had  submitted  to  Jackson's  authority,  and, 
entering  with  zeal  into  the  plans  of  the  general,  he  anticipated  the 
'langcr  of  any  such  movement,  by  a  forcible  dissolution  of  the 
assembly. 

The  day  following  the  first  engagement,  Jackson  had  taken  a 
position  some  four  miles  below  the  city,  on  the  leA  bank,  where  a 
trench  was  carried  across  the  entire  strip  of  dry  land  from  the  river 
bniik  down  the  gradual  declivity  to  the  swamp.  The  embankment 
was  enlarged  and  strengthened  by  piles  of  movables,  cotton  bales, 
«kc.  An  armed  vessel,  lying  in  the  river, was  so  stationed  as  to  flank 
the  ditch  and  command  the  approach  from  below :  works  were  also 
erected  on  the  opposite  bank  of  the  Mississippi. 

The  enemy  attempted  to  storm  these  fortifications  on  the  28th, 
and  failing  in  that,  they  erected  batteries  to  play  upon  the  American 
works.  A  heavy  cannonade  on  both'  sides,  on  the  1st  of  January 
(1815),  resulted  in  the  silencing  of  the  British  guns.  On  the  4th, 
reinforcements  arrived  from  Kentucky. 

An  interval  of  a  few  days  was  then  spent  in  preparations  for  a 
decisive  assault.  A  canal  was  cut  by  which  a  number  of  boats  were 
transported  from  the  lake  to  the  river,  for  the  purpose  of  carrying 
over  a  detachment  to  the  right  bank.  This  wos  effected  on  the  night 
of  the  7th,  and  on  the  morning  of  the  following  day,  the  main  army, 
under  command  of  Sir  Edward  Packenham,  assaulted  the  American 
entrenchments.  The  desperate  character  of  an  attack,  at  such  fearful 
disadvantage,  is  evident  from  the  result.  The  Americans,  firing 
from  covei't,  lost  less  than  twenty  men  in  killed  and  wounded,  while 
the  loss  of  the  enemy  was  not  far  from  two  thousand  men.  Among 
the  slain  was  General  Packenham,  who  fell  leading  his  men  to  the 
charge. 

The  detachment  on  the  right  bank,  in  the  full  tide  of  success, 
having  driven  from  their  entrenchments  and  defeated  a  greatly  su- 
jwrior  force,  was  recalled,  when  the  fortune  of  the  day  was  decided, 
and  the  whole  army,  retreating  unmolested  to  the  lake,  rijembarked. 
The  only  success  that  attended  this  expedition  was  the  subsequent 


THE  UNITED  STATES. 


881 


capture  of  Fort  Bowyer,  at  Mobile,  which,  being  garrisoned  by  less 
than  four  hundred  men,  surrendered  on  the  18th  of  February. 

Several  naval  engagements  took  place  before  news  of  the  peace 
could  be  generally  circulated.    On  the  15th  of  January  the  frigate 
President,  commanded  by  Decatur,  attempting  to  get  to  sea  from 
New  York,  was  intercepted  by  the  British  blockading  squadron,  and 
after  a  sharp  engagement  with  the  Endymion,  a  frigate  of  forty  guns, 
was  compelled  to  strike  by  the  advance  of  other  vesuels  to  the  sup' 
port  of  the  enemy.     The  Constitution,  in  the  month  of  February, 
made  prize  in  a  single  action  of  the  Cyane  and  the  Levant,  carrying 
respectively  twenty-four  and  eighteen  guns.    This  was  accomplished 
by  adroit  manoeuvring,  so  as  to  keep  beyond  reach  of  their  guns, 
while  her  own,  of  heavier  metal,  could  tell  with  destructive  effect. 
The  Hornet  and  Peacock  each  captured  a  British  national  vessel. 
The  Nautilus,  taken  by  the  latter  on  the  80th  of  June,  1815,  was 
immediately  restored,  upon  communication  of  intelligence,  satisfac- 
tory  to  the  commander  of  the  Hornet,  that  pea'be  had  been  concluded. 


\j  li,  il,  J.     3,    3j  ill,     JL    y  » 

WAR  WITH  ALGIERS. — TARIFF:  NATIONAL  BANK.  —  MONROE, 
PRESIDENT. — JACKSON'S  SEMINOLE  CAMPAIGN.  —  CESSION 
OP  FLORIDA    BY   SPAIN. — ADMISSION   OF   MISSOURI:    THE 
COMPROMISE.  —  MONROE'S    SECOND    TERM. — ADMINIS- 
TRATION  OF    JOHN    QUINCT   ADAMS.  —  ELECTION    OP 
ANDREW    JACKSON. — THE    TARIFF      -NULLIFI- 
CATION   IN    SOUTH    CAROLINA.  —  THE    UNITED 
STATES'   BANK.  —  INDIAN    REM0TAL8. — 
BLACK    HAWK. — THE    CHSR0KEE8. 

Almost  immediately  after  the  conclusion  of  peace  with  Great 
Britain,  the  attention  of  congress  being  directed  by  the  president  to 
late  outrages  upon  our  commerce  by  Barbary  cruisers,  war  was  de- 
clared against  Algiers.  A  squadron  of  ten  vessels,  commanded  by 
Decatur — to  be  followed  by  another  under  Bainbridge — was  dis- 
patched to  the  Mediterranean  in  the  month  of  May  following.  The 
capture  of  two  armed  vessels,  one  of  them  being  the  largest  in  his 


'i 


882 


THE   I'KOPLE'S   BOOK   OF   IIIBTORY. 


navy,  bo  nlnrmcil  the  dcy,  that  ho  at  once  concluded  n  trooty  by 
which  the  United  States  were  for  ever  freed  from  the  disgraceful 
payment  of  tribute,  and  all  American  prisoners  wore  freed  without 
ransom.     His  vessels  were  gratuitously  returned  to  him. 

From  Algiers,  Decatur  sailed  for  Tunis  and  Tri|)oli,  both  of  which 
nil  IS  were  compelled  to  furnish  indemnity  for  the  sufferance  of 
capture  by  the  British  of  United  States'  vessels,  while  in  their  ports, 
nis  whole  mission  accomplished,  the  commodore  joined  Bain- 
bridge  at  Gibralter. 

At  the  next  session  of  congress,  1815-16,  a  long  and  vehement 
discussion  arose  respecting  the  establishment  of  the  new  tariff.  All 
the  op|)osing  interests  of  the  producer  and  manufacturer  were  brought 
to  bear  u{)on  the  question.  As  finally  settled,  a  judicious  discrimina- 
tion was  ma<ie  between  those  articles  which  could  bo  produced  or 
manufacture  1  in  perfection  at  home,  and  those,  being  at  the  same 
time  articles  of  neces-ity,  for  which  wo  must  still  be  partially  or 
wholly  dependent  upon  foreign  nations. 

A  new  national  bank,  upon  specie-paying  principles,  and  having 
n  capital  of  thirty-five  millions,  mostly  to  be  subscribed  for  in  United 
States'  stocks,  was  also  established  at  this  session.  The  Union  was 
extended,  toward  the  close  of  the  year,  by  the  admission  of  Indiana, 
as  a  separate  state.  The  presidential  election  again  recurring,  James 
Monroe,  secretary  of  state  under  Madison,  was  elected  to  the  highest 
office,  and  Daniel  D.  Tompkins  to  that  of  vice-president.  The  inau- 
guration took  place  on  tin'  4th  of  March,  1817. 

During  the  year,  additional  treaties  were  effected  with  most  of  the 
western  Indians,  by  which  their  title  was  extinguished  to  large  dis- 
tricts, at  this  time  fast  filling  up  with  an  enterprising  population 
from  the  east  At  the  south,,  trouble  was  already  brewing  between 
the  Seminolcs  and  the  white  settlers.  Spain  still  retaining  her  title 
to  both  East  and  West  B^'lorida,  the  chastisement  of  the  Indians  by 
pursuing  them  into  a  foreign  juristliction  became  a  delicate  matter, 
but  the  necessities  of  the  case  seeming  to  recpiire  some  action.  Gen- 
eral Jackson,  with  a  large  force  of  Tennessee  volunteers,  was  dis- 
patched against  them.  Tlie  operations  of  the  campaign  in  regard  to 
the  conquest  of  Indian  territory,  will  be  found  briefly  recapitulated 
in  a  subsequent  chapter.  A  high  handed  proceedure  of  the  general, 
in  the  trial  by  court  martial,  and  execution  of  two  British  subjects, 
Arbuthnot  and  Ambrister,  fur  inciting  the  Indians  to  war.and  lending 
them  aid  and  assistance,  has  been  heavily  censured.     The  seizure  of 


i.-.v'- 


FIFTH    nUuSIDKNT   Ul'  TllK    UNUKU   SIAIK 
LOK  ]    APRIL  Q9.  '.-.'■8,  IN  WKSTUORKI-AMD  COUNTr,  Va  ;  TKl 
UAllcm.  1817,   KEHVKD8YKAKS-   Dl  K  D  JULY  1   U-'- 


nu^i-irHN'T 


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THE  UNITED  STATES. 


383 


the  Spanish  capital,  Pensacola,  and  the  fort  of  St.  Marks,  in  "West 
Florida,  also  accomplished  during  this  winter  campaign,  gave  occa- 
sion for  much  injurious  comment  abroad  upon  American  policy. 
The  latter  event  took  place  early  in  1818. 

Charges  of  having  exceeded  his  authority  by  these  unwarrantable 
acts  were  brought  against  Jackson,  and  the  whole  subject  of  the 
Seminole  campaign  was  debated  at  length  in  congress.  He  was 
finally  sustained  by  a  decided  majority  in  his  conduct  of  the  affairs  in 
question.  The  desire  of  government  to  maintain  peaceful  relations 
with  Spain,  and  to  acquire  the  Floridas  by  amicable  treaty,  had  been 
appartint  from  the  whole  policy  pursued  by  the  United  States  during 
the  struggle  of  the  former  country  with  her  revolted  American  col- 
onies. The  forces  of  the  United  States  had  also  been  employed, 
during  the  year  preceding,  to  expel  from  Amelia  island,  on  the  coast 
of  East  Florida,  a  band  of  lawless  adventurers,  who,  while  threat- 
ening the  Spanish  possessions  on  the  main,  were  engaged  in  the 
slave  trade,  in  smuggling,  and  in  general  depredation, 

A  treaty,  providing  for  the  cession  of  Florida,  was  finally  concluded 
with  Spain  toward  the  close  of  the  year  1820,  the  United  States  thus 
obtaining  an  acquisition  to  its  territory  of  greater  importance  in 
respect  to  position  than  to  intrinsic  value.  Meanwhile,  increasing 
prosperity  attended  upon  the  enterprise  of  individuals  in  extending 
civilization  at  the  west  and  south.  Mississippi,  Illinois,  and  Alabama 
had  been  consecutively  admitted  to  the  Union — the  first  in  1817, 
the  second  in  1818,  and  the  third  in  1819.  Communication  with 
the  west  had  been  rendered  practicable  by  the  opening  of  the  Cum- 
berland road,  a  national  work,  carried  out  in  consequence  of  arrange- 
ments made  with  the  state  of  Ohio,  as  a  consideration  for  the  cession 
of  western  lands.  The  power  of  congress  in  respect  to  internal 
improvements,  other  than  those  necessarily  connected  with  public 
enterprise,  as  the  construction  of  military  roads,  the  erection  of 
light-houses,  the  improvement  of  harbours,  &c.,  has  never  been  sat- 
isfacttirily  decided. 

The  most  imjwrtant  question  brought  before  congress  at  its  sessions 
in  1820  and  1821,  was  upon  the  admission  of  the  territory  of  Mis- 
Bouri  into  the  Union  as  a  sovereign  state.  The  introduction  of  an 
amendment  providing  for  the  exclusion  of  slavery  within  its  limits, 
as  the  condition  upon  which  the  application  for  admission  should  be 
entertained,  gave  occasion  for  the  most  excited  and  angry  discussion 
that  had  yet  resulted  from  any  issue  taken  between  the  north  and 
Vol.  IV,— 68 


1  If  j^ 

>  \  'Mm    1 

»Mli\ 

t  *n 


It 


i 


Mil 


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ir 


884 


THE  PEOPLE'S   BOOK   OF  HISTORY. 


the  south.  The  matter  was  finally  adjusted,  by  admission  of  the  new 
state,  with  no  further  restriction  than  that  no  act  should  be  passed 
by  Its  legislature  in  contravention  of  the  constitutional  rights  of  cit- 
izens emigrating  thither  from  other  states.  This  proviso  was  called 
for  by  a  clause  in  a  constitution  formed  by  the  people  of  the  terri- 
tory, providing  for  the  future  exclusion  of  free  negroes  and 
mulattoes. 

On  the  other  hand,  those  opposed  to  the  extension  of  southern  in- 
fluence and  institutions,  succeeded,  by  a  large  majority,  in  appending 
to  the  bill  a  proviso  that  thenceforth  slavery  should  be  prohibited  in 
the  territory  of  the  United  States  lying  north  of  the  parallel  of  thirty- 
six  degrees  thirty  minutes,  the  northern  boundary  of  the  present 
Slate  of  Arkansas.  The  separation  of  Maine  from  Massachusetts, 
and  its  admission  to  the  Union  was  effected  during  the  discussion  of 
the  Missouri  question. 

Mr.  Monroe,  shortly  after  his  entry  upon  a  second  official  term,  in 
1821,  appointed  Andrew  Jackson  to  the  office  of  governor  of  the 
new  territory  of  Florida.  In  dealing  with  the  Spanish  officials  wuorn 
he  was  called  upon  to  supersede,  the  proceedings  of  the  general  were, 
as  usual,  rather  high  handed.  The  keys  of  the  capitol  at  Pensacola 
■were  formally  delivered  up  by  Jose  Cavalla,  the  Spanish  governor, 
on  the  seventh  of  July ;  a  refusal  or  neglect  on  his  part  to  deliver 
over  certain  public  documents  led  to  his  temporary  arrest  by  order 
of  Jackson. 

The  principal  political  events  during  the  closing  term  of  ^fonroe'3 
administration,  were  the  recognition  of  the  independence  of  the 
republics  of  South  America;  a  treaty  with  England  for  the  more 
effectual  suppression  of  the  slave  trade ;  a  settlement  of  the  boutidary 
on  the  Pacific,  which  should  limit  future  settlements  by  Russia  or 
the  United  States;  and  a  protective  modification  of  the  tariff.  Tiie 
last  mea-sure  was  not  carrii-d  without  vehement  opposition. 

In  1824,  tlie  venerable  La  Fayette,  upon  express  invitation  ex- 
tended by  congress,  visited  tlie  United  States,  where  he  spent 
nearly  an  entire  year  in  making  a  general  tour  of  the  country. 
Thnjughout  his  journey  he  met  with  the  trio.st  enthusiastic  reception, 
and,  ere  his  departure,  he  received  substantial  tokens  of  the  gratitude 
of  the  nation,  in  the  grant  of  a  township  of  land,  and  the  sum  ol 
two  hundred  thousand  dollars,  by  appropriation  of  congress. 

The  ascendency  of  n^publican  priiiciples,  as  opposed  to  the  doc- 
trines of  the  original  federal  party,  was  sufiiciently  evinced  by  the 


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SIXTH    I-KKSIDKNT   OF  TIIK    UNITKD   STAl  K.:^. 
BOKK  :>.'  i:oT,    rUESIDEKT  IN  :S85;   SERVED  I  YEARS:   DIED 


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THE  UNITED  STATES. 


885 


triumphant  election  of  three  successive  republican  presidents,  and 
the  retention  of  office  by  each  of  them,  for  a  term  of  eight  years.  At 
the  election  in  1824,  new  elements  entered  into  the  political  contro- 
versy. Candidates  were  brought  forward  from  the  four  great  sec- 
tions of  the  TTnion :  New  England  was  represented  by  John  Qnincy 
Adams,  son  of  the  second  president ;  Virginia  by  Mr.  Crawford ; 
the  south  by  Andrew  Jackoon;  and  the  west  by  Henry  Clay. 
Adams  and  Jackson  were  the  prominent  candidates,  but,  as  neither 
obtained  a  majority,  the  election  devolved,  a  second  time,  upon  the 
house  of  representatives.  The  former  was  chosen  president,  although 
Jackson  had  received  a  larger  number  of  popular  votes. 

During  the  four  years  of  Adams'  administration,  the  country 
remained  at  peace  with  all  foreign  nations.  The  messages  to  con- 
gress and  other  public  addresses  of  the  president,  excited  general 
admiration  by  their  ability,  and  the  dignity,  integrity,  and  firm- 
ness which  they  exhibited.  In  accordance  with  principles  set  fcth 
in  his  inaugural  address.  President  Adams  displayed  great  mod- 
eration in  the  exercise  of  his  powers  of  removal,  considering  it  a 
matter  of  gross  impropriety  that  the  offices  of  government  should 
be  bestowed  as  rewards  for  party  services,  or  as  mere  tokens  of 
personal  favour. 

Toward  the  close  of  this  administration,  the  revival  of  the  dispute 
respecting  a  protective  tariff  renewed  all  the  former  antagonisra 
between  the  north  and  the  south.  The  law  passed  relative  to  this 
subject,  was  finally  so  altered  and  amended  as  to  favour  the  interests 
of  the  manufacturing  states.  The  presidential  election,  recurring  at 
this  period,  gave  occasion  for  a  display  of  party  violence  and  ani- 
mosity seldom  before  witnessed  in  America.  The  result  was  the 
choice  of  Andrew  Jackson  for  president,  and  of  John  C.  Calhoun, 
of  South  Carolina,  for  vice-president.  Tiie  inauguration  took  place 
March  4th',  i^29. 

A  writer  in  Lardner's  Cycloptedia,  says  of  this  result,  "Jackson 
had  been  the  rude  soldier;  ever  ready  to  outstep  the  bounds  of 
legality;  fierce  in  his  manners  and  declarations;  breathing  war  and 
defiance.  The  fears  that  his  election  would  prove  the  s'^^nal,  not 
only  <  r  hostilities  witli  forei^^n  powers,  but  usurpation  or  once 
at  home,  were  general;  yi  he  same  popular  breath  that  wafted 
Jiiekson  to  the  presidency,  Kupressed  u^mn  him  at  the  same  time  so 
strong  a  sense  of  his  duty,  that  mftr:  in  the  furnace  ^  .;'  I  not  take 
r.  newer  or  softer  temper  than  tiio  ;  ow  president."     Chat  he  had, 


ti   . 


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886 


TUE  PEOPLE'S   BOOK  OF   HI8T0BT. 


however,  lost  nothing  of  his  former  firmness,  is  evident  from  the 
whole  course  of  his  ndministration. 

The  late  aiv  {.'.i'iiiKim  \n  the  tariff  produced  great  excitement 
and  oppositi  >i;  throughout  ihe  uouthern  states.  South  Carolina 
took  the  lead  in  «' ;  ouncing  the  iJleged  partiality  of  the  system, 
and  in  maintaining  th«  prinoii'V''  .  f  a  forcible  assertion  of  rights 
on  th:  part  oi  thu-io  ."tjvUjs  .\i  ,,  icved  by  its  operation.  The 
speech  of  Ilayin  ...  in  the  United  States  senate,  upon  this  topic,  called 
forth  from  the  great  orator  and  statesman,  Daniel  Webster,  a 
lojily  which  has  ever  been  considered  one  of  his  ablest  and  most 
fuicib!,'  cfforK 

V/hon  ih;.^  te(  ling  finally  brake  out  into  an  open  determination,  on 
the  part;  of  rhe  state  of  ''  ;t.h  Curolina,  as  expressed  by  a  convention 
called  by  h  majorly  of  its  electors,  to  resist  the  authority  of  the 
United  States  in  the  collection  of  revenues,  the  president  took  a 
firm  and  decided  position.  By  his  pi-oclamation  of  December  lOtli, 
1882,  he  expressed  a  fixed  determination  to  fulfil  the  duties  of  the 
executive,  by  carrying  out  the  laws  of  the  United  States  at  all 
hazards.  At  the  same  time,  no  unnecessary  violence  of  language 
yr&a  made  ise  of,  but  the  state  of  South  Carolina  was  called  upon 
in  persuaaivi}  and  moderate  tones  to  preclude  the  necessity  for  coer- 
cive njeasures,  by  a  voluntary  renunciation  of  the  treasonable  doc- 
trines recently  made  manifest. 

Immediate  preparations  were  commenced  for  warlike  operations 
— should  such  prove  inevitable — by  garrisoning  and  strengthening 
the  forts  at  the  entrance  of  the  harbour  of  Charleston.  The  party 
in  South  Carolina  opposed  to  the  attempted  nuUificatiun  of  the  laws 
of  the  United  States,  being  a  large  minority,  made  renewed  exertions, 
at  this  crisis,  to  avert  the  threatened  calamity.  A  modification  of 
the  tariff,  introduced  and  carried  in  congre:>s  by  Mr.  <Jlay,  by  way 
of  comjiroinit-  ayed  the  angry  fueling  at  the  south,  and  put  an 

end  to  th'eaUs  of  secession. 

Jack.«ion  was  reelected  at  the  close  of  his  first  term,  Martin  Van 
Buren  being,  at  the  same  time,  chosen  vice-president.  During  the 
whole  [XjrKKl  of  his  retention  of  office,  the  credit  of  the  country  was 
maintained  with  foreign  nations.  In  July,  1S3'  vi  ;*'iU;igeii,  .jI, 
long  post  '  «.i,  was  concluded  W(th  France,  '  .vhich  a  specified 
indemnit  ;s  secured  for  former  deprer":  .lons  upon  Americi.ri 
co'^mer  '  .he  most  irnjK)rUint  domestic  tniisactions  of  thia  admin- 
ifltr."  '  iated  to  Indiau  affairs.     Those  which  aroused  the  grealosc 


THETJNITED   STATES. 


887 


degree  of  party  strife  were  connected  with  the  proccedinga  of  the 
president  concerning  the  United  States  Bank. 

Deeming  this  institution,  if  not  of  unconstitutional  inception,  at 
least  a  dangerous  agent  for  the  management  of  fiscal  concerns,  he 
made  use  of  the  veto  power  to  annul  the  action  of  congress  granting 
a  renewal  of  its  charter.  In  the  year  following,  (1838),  the  president 
ordered  a  withdrawal  of  the  public  funds  from  this  bank,  then  their 
place  of  deposit ;  they  were  subsequently  intrusted  to  certain  state 
banks — "pet  banks,"  as  they  were  denominated  by  the  opposition. 
In  carrying  out  this  measure,  during  a  recess  of  congress,,  Jackson 
removed  from  the  office  of  secretary  of  the  treasury,  Mr.  Duane,  who 
had  declined  to  second  his  views,  and  appointed  Mr.  Taney.  A 
vote  of  censure  was  pasped  by  the  senate  relative  to  this  proceed- 
ing on  the  part  of  the  executive,  but  was  afterwards  expunged, 
(January  16th,  1887.) 

To  the  president's  hostility  towards  the  bank|  many  have  attri- 
buted its  ultimate  downfall,  and,  in  \o  small  measure,  the  commercial 
crisis  which  gave  so  ruinous — but  perhaps  beneficial — a  check  to 
the  speculative  mania  of  the  period.  The  effect  of  the  failure  of  that 
institution,  has,  doubtless,  been  exaggerated,  and,  for  the  cause,  we 
must  look  rather  to  the  misconduct  of  its  managers,  and  to  immense 
losses  sustained  by  the  refusal,  upon  various  pretexts,  of  several 
states  to  make  good  their  liabilities. 

The  subject  of  the  removal  of  the  Indian  tribes  to  lands  westward 
of  the  Mississippi,  was  long  a  matter  of  great  difficulty,  aud,  in  the 
districts  where  these  races  were  located,  of  engrossing  interest  The 
standing  ground  of  contention  w.as  a  disavowal  by  the  Indians  of 
the  authority  of  those  chiefs  wko  undertook  to  treat  in  behalf  of 
the  tribes.  In  1831,  a  portion  of  the  tribe  of  Sacs,  of  Illinois,  headed 
by  their  chief,  Black  Hawk,  refused  to  remove  from  their  settlements 
on  Rock  river.  They  were  expelled  by  force,  although  without 
bloodshed,  but,  in  the  year  following,  numbers  of  them  returned  to 
their  old  quarters. 

Blood  was  first  shed  by  the  whites — it  appears,  upon  very  insuffi 
cient  occasion;  and,  the  war  once  commenced.  Black  Hawk  and 
his  warriors  were  signally  successful  in  several  skirmishes.  Finally, 
worn  out  by  fatigue,  hard  fare,  and  exposure,  they  were  cut  off  and 
mercilessly  massacred  by  a  large  force,  under  General  Atkinson. 
Black  Hawk  made  his  escape,  but  subsequently  surrendered  himself 
to  the  United  States'  authorities.     He  was  detained  as  a  hostage 


^i^    -ll 


m 


888 


THE  I'EOl'LE'8  HOOK   OF  HISTORY. 


until  June,  1833,  when  he  was  set  at  liberty.  In  company  with 
other  Indian  chiefs,  he  vi':lted  many  of  the  eastern  cities,  every 
where  exciting  much  attention  and  curiosity. 

Many  of  the  aouthern  tribes  were  induced  to  emigrate  peaceably; 
the  greatest  difficulty  was  in  dealing  with  the  Cherokees  and  Semi- 
nolca.  The  former,  to  the  number  of  about  eighteen  thousand,  were 
mostly  located  in  the  northern  part  of  Georgia.  The^  had  made 
great  advances  in  civilization,  and  were  governed  by  a  legislation 
of  their  own.  The  United  States  had  stipulated,  in  1802,  with  the 
state  of  Georgia,  to  extinguish  the  title  of  the  Cherokees  to  lands 
within  that  jurisdiction,  "as  early  as  the  same  could  be  peaceably 
obtained  upon  reasonable  terms." 

Efforts  to  effect  a  removal  of  the  tribe  had  been  partially  success- 
ful, but  the  Georgia  legislature,  impatient  at  delay,  in  1824,  pa.ssed 
sundry  acts — pronounced  unconstitutional  by  many  able  jurists — 
encroaching  upon  the  rights  and  personal  privileges  of  the  Indians. 
Finding  their  position  insecure,  a  large  party  of  the  Cherokees, 
headed  by  Major  Ridge,  favoured  an  emigration  of  the  whole  nation. 
Those  of  this  opinion  attended  a  council,  called  in  1835,  and  con- 
cluded a  treaty  with  J.  T.  Schermerhorn,  commissioner  on  the  part 
of  the  United  States,  by  which  it  was  agreed  that,  upon  the  receipt 
of  reasonable  compensation  for  the  losses  necessarily  sustained  U{)on 
removal,  the  whole  tribe  should  emigrate  westward  of  the  Mississippi. 

A  military  force  was  called  into  requisition  to  compel  submission 
to  the  terms  of  this  treaty;  but  the  Indians,  although  denying  the 
authority  of  those  who  had  undertaken  to  act  for  the  tribe,  made  no 
overt  resistance.  The  Georgian  Cherokees,  removed  to  the  western 
territory,  have  continued  to  prosper,  pursuing  the  arts  of  agriculture, 
and  improving  in  civilization  and  education.  Ti\e  Choctaws,  Chick- 
asaws,  and  Creeks,  occupying  separate  tracts  assigned  them  west  of 
the  Mississippi,  have  also,  to  a  greater  or  less  extent,  adopted  the 
customs  of  the  whites. 


THE  UNITED  STATES.  339 


CHAPTER   lY  I. 

THB   SEMINOLE  WAR.  —  EARLY   HISTORY   OF  THE  FLORIDA   IV- 
DIAN8.  —  WAR  OF    1818. — INDIAN   TREATY   OF   1823;   OP   1832. 
—  REFUSAL  OF  THE  SEJflNOLES  TO   REMOVE.  —  DESTRUCTION 
OF   DADE'S   DETACHMENT.  —  MILITARY   OPERATIONS  OF 
GENERALS   SCOTT   AND    JESSUP.  —  UNSATISFACTORY 
RESULTS  OF   NEGOTIATION  — EXPEDITIONS  OF   COL- 
ONELS TAYLOR  AND  HARNEY. — GRADUAL  CESSA- 
TION OF  HOSTILITIES.  —  RECENT  DIFFICULTIES. 

From  the  time  of  the  conquest  by  De  Soto,  to  the  acquisition  of 
the  territory  of  Florida  by  the  United  States,  the  peninsula  contin- 
ued a  theatre  for  scenes  of  desultory  but  ferocious  warfare.  In  the 
bloody  contests  between  the  French  and  Spanish  settlers,  the  unfor- 
tunate aborigines  were  ruinously  involved;  their  agricultural  pur- 
suits were  interrupted,  and  their  numbers  were  greatly  reduced  by 
warfare,  and  the  want  attendant  upon  their  unsettled  condition. 

According  to  their  usual  custom,  the  Spaniards,  while  they  con- 
tinued to  oppress  and  destroy  the  original  proprietors  of  the  soil, 
were  not  wanting  in  endeavours  to  promote  their  spiritual  welfare. 
From  St.  Augustine,  ni '  s  of  zealous  ecclesiastics  were  sent  forth 
among  the  Indians.  Boiti  within  the  limits  of  the  present  state  of 
Florida,  ahd  far  in  the  wilderness  of  the  north  and  west,  these  wor- 
thy missionaries  devoted  their  lives  to  the  instruction  of  '^'p;  natives 
in  their  religious  faith,  and  in  the  arts  of  civilization. 

At  the  commencement  of  the  eighteenth  century,  the  principal 
tribes  of  Florida  were  the  hostile  nations  of  the  Yemasses  and  the 
Appalachees ;  but  after  the  northern  portion  of  the  peninsula  wiis 
overrun  by  the  invading  forces  of  Governor  Moore,  of  South  Caro- 
lina, these  reduce'  •  . "  '  scattered  natives  united  and  moved  farther 
southward.  Froni  ihis  period  they  were  known  as  Scminoles  ("  wan- 
derers"). Causes  of  quarrel  continued  to  exist  between  them  and 
the  white  settlers  of  the  border:  fugitive  slaves  from  the  northern 
plantations  found  an  asylum  among  the  Indians,  and  mutual  wrongs 
and  outrages  kept  alive  the  old  feelings  of  hostility.  At  the  period 
of  the  cession  of  Florida  to  the  United  States,  the  Indians  had  flour- 
ishing settlements  in  West  Florida,  particularly  upon  the  St.  Marks 


^r,w 


890 


THE  PEOPLE'S   BOOK  OF   HISTORY. 


and  Oscilla  rivers,  and  in  tlio  vicinity  of  the  lake  of  Miccosukie 
Their  inrouda  had  become  so  frequent  and  dangerous,  that  it  was 
determined  to  break  up  their  quarters  in  this  region,  and  in  March  of 
1818,  those  settlements  were  laid  waste  by  an  army  of  several  thou- 
sand men,  under  General  Jackson,  and  the  inhabitants  were  driven 
to  East  Florida  and  into  the  interior.  Five  years  later,  on  the  18th 
of  September,  1828,  a  treaty,  known  as  the  treaty  of  Moultrie  creek, 
was  effected  by  United  States'  commissioners  with  upwards  of  thirty 
of  the  Seminole  chiefs,  the  principal  provisions  of  which  were  for 
.  .ing  the  Indians  to  a  specified  district  in  the  interior.  Mutual 
complaints  were  still  made  by  the  Indians  and  frontier  whites  of 
reciprocal  injuries,  and  the  removal  of  the  Scminoles  from  Florida 
was  strenuously  advocated. 

In  1832,  on  the  8th  of  May,  another  conference  was  held  by 
United  States'  agents  with  about  fifteen  of  the  Indian  chiefs,  at 
Payne's  landing,  on  the  Ocklawaha  riv^ir.  A  grant  of  lunds  west  of 
the  Mississipj)!  was  promised  by  the  Uiiitod  States,  together  with 
a  pecuniary  compensation  for  the  loss  attendant  upon  ti.e  abandon- 
ment of  their  old  settlements,  if  the  Indians  would  consent  to  remove; 
an  offer  which  the  Seminole  chieid  accepted  in  behall  of  their  people, 
conditionally  upon  tb  new  lands  pro  "t  acceptable  upon  examin- 
ation, by  some  of  theii  own  emissaries.  The  remov;  w  uj  to  take 
place  in  three  years'  time.  The  nation  large  w;i  averse  to  this 
treaty,  and  as  the  time  for  its  completion  dr  'w  near,  no  disposition 
was  evinced  to  abide  by  it.  The  warrior  ^  nying  the  authority 
of  the  chiefs  who  had  undertaken  to  bind  them,  or  > i : Hsatistied  with 
the  report  of  the  deputation,  commenced  u  systemati  turchase  and 
accumulation  of  arms  and  military  stores,  with  the  d.  .rminiition  to 
maintain  possession  of  the  homes  of  their  forefathers. 

Open  hostilities  commenced  in  the  month  of  October,  1835,  when 
two  Indiana  were  killed  in  a  fray  near  Miccosukie.  Their  death 
was  rev*  ged  by  the  murder  of  the  mail  carrier  between  Tampa 
Bay  and  Fort  King,  whose  mangled  body  was  found,  shortly  after, 
":pon  the  road  betweei.  the  .stations.  The  disposition  of  the  Indians 
was  further  manifested  by  their  putting  to  death  two  chiefs,  named 
John  Hicks  and  Charley  Amathla,  who  hud  favoured  the  treaty 
>f  Payne's  landing.  Prominent  among  the  belligerent  party,  wah 
the  young  quadroon,  (Xsceola,  commonly  called  by  the  name  of  his 
siip)>osed  father,  an  Englishman,  named  Powel. 

The  numbers  and  warlike  character  of  the  Seminoles,  seem  to 


m 


:fci  tl 


.\  \  I)  n  i:  w    .M  (  K  s(t  \ 


FKvr.viM  ii;!:>ii'i. 


I    <i|-    I  UK    I MIKK   STATKS. 


h^^H:<  I! 


i;^     !  1 1  :   .■'.':■  !•'  1  If '» 


1       .1   •:!': 


I  .,<>1     1'  W  !  tM.    T  '.M 


I'l.!  \  ;m  *    III   I  '.-    I  I.I  ■'  ^"»^'•■ 


«ase»4Ksisis,ass.'.»'^, ., . 


THE  UNITED  STATES. 


891 


have  been  greatly  underrated,  and  the  lamentable  result  of  tne  first 
important  engagement  excited  universal  astonishment.    Major  Dade, 
with  more  than  one  hundred  men,  including  a  company  of  United 
States'  infantry,  set  out  from  Tampa  Bay,  in  the  month  of  December, 
to  join  the  forces  of  General  Clinch,  at  Fort  King,  in  the  interior. 
Not  far  from  the  forks  of  the  Ouithlacoochee,  the  command  was 
beset  by  a  large  body  of  Indians,  led  by  Micanopy,  the  principal 
Seminole  chief,  and  his  brother-in-law,  Jumper.   The  troops  defended 
themselves  with  great  resolution  and  bravery,  and  succeeded  in 
rebelling  the  enemy,  and  in  erecting  a  slight  barricade  of  pine-logs; 
but  their  opponents  were  in  sufficient  force  to  be  able  to  surround 
and  pick  them  off  at  their  leisure,  firing  from  behind  the  trees  and 
from  their  lurking  places  among  the  wire-grass.     Having,  as  they 
supposed,  destroyed  the  entire  company,  the  Indians  retired;  but 
shortly  afterward  a  party  of  negroes  arrived  at  the  spot  on  horse- 
back, and  finished  the  murderous  work  by  knocking  the  wounded 
men  on  the  head.    Only  three  of  the  .vhole  detachment  ever  reached 
a  place  of  safety :  these  had  been  left  for  dead  upon  the  field. 

The  war  had  now  fairly  commenced,  and  the  destruction  of  iso- 
lated and  exposed  plantations  speedily  followed.  Various  skirmishes 
took  place,  and  on  the  31st  of  the  month,  Osceola,  at  the  head  of 
about  six  hundred  Indians,  attacked  a  body  of  two  hundred  regular 
troops,  and  a  company  of  Florida  volunteers,  under  command  of 
General  Clinch,  while  on  their  march  from  Fort  Drane  towards  his 
own  head-quarters.  The  Indians  were  defeated,  but  not  without 
the  loss  of  over  fifty  men  on  the  part  of  the  whites.  Throughout 
the  remainder  of  the  winter,  the  Seminoles  continued  their  ravages; 
the  plantations  of  the  interior  were  mostly  destroyed,  after  being 
abandoned  by  their  occupants.  The  settlements  of  all  East  Florida 
were  in  a  condition  of  great  danger  and  distress.  The  noted  Philip, 
with  a  powerful  body  of  warriors,  conducted  the  most  important 
operations  in  that  quarter,  and  destroyed  New  Smyrna,  upon  Mos- 
quito inlet,  together  with  the  plantations  on  Halifax  river. 

The  following  spring  (1836)  was  memorable  for  General  Scott's 
campaign  in  Florida.  With  a  strong  force,  he  penetrated  the  north- 
ern Seminole  districts,  sweeping  the  country  in  three  columns.  It 
was  plain,  however,  that  the  Indians  had  no  idea  of  attempting  to 
cope  with  such  formidable  enemies  in  open  warfare.  They  easily 
avoided  coming  to  any  general  engagement,  and  a  troublesome,  but 
unimportant  skirmishing  comprised  all  the  belligerent  operations  of 


III 


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TUE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OK  HISTORY. 


the  campaign.  As  the  season  advanced,  the  'unheal thiness  of  the 
climate  prevented  active  operations:  volunteers  were  discharged, 
forts  were  evacuated,  and  the  savages  were  at  liberty  during  the 
whole  summer  to  continue  a  desultory  system  of  murder  and  plunder. 
In  September,  a  large  army,  under  Governor  Call,  was  again  marched 
against  the  subtle  and  fugitive  enemy,  and  they  were  again  driven 
southward  towards  the  impenetrable  asylum  offered  to  them  by  the 
unexplored  and  marshy  wilderness  of  the  Everglades.  There  were, 
at  this  time,  several  hundred  Creek  auxiliaries  in  the  United  States' 
service  in  Florida,  headed  by  their  chiefs,  Paddy  Carr  and  Jem  Boy. 
With  a  mixed  array  of  these  friend'  /  Indians  and  white  soldiery, 
Colonel  Lane  undertook  a  campaign  to  the  southward,  in  the  month 
of  October.  He  drove  the  Seminoles  from  the  villages  where  they 
had  hitherto  dwelt  secure  and  unmolested,  and  defeated  and  dis- 
persed those  who  attempted  to  oppose  his  progress. 

Ill  the  following  month  two  engagements  took  place  on  the  bor- 
ders of  the  extensive  Wahoo  swamp.  The  American  army  concen- 
trated in  that  vicinity  numbered  more  than  two  thousand  men,  a 
force  sufllcient  to  overwhelm  the  undisciplined  enemy  in  open  field, 
but  unable,  nevertheless,  to  effect  any  thing  of  importance  in  a  district 
whore  the  Indians  could  so  readily  betake  themseves  to  places  of 
retreat  and  concealment. 

"Within  a  few  weeks  after  theso  (svents,  the  main  body  of  the  Sem- 
inoles were  ascertained  to  have  deserted  their  old  haunts,  and  to 
have  moved  southward  towards  the  Everglades.  On  the  22d  of 
January,  (1837,)  General  Jessup,  then  commander-in-chief  of  the 
forces  in  Florida,  started  in  pursuit,  witli  a  strong  force.  A  number 
of  prisoners  were  taken  at  the  encampment  of  the  Seminole  chief 
Osuchee,  on  Ahajropka  lake,  at  the  source  of  tlie  OcklawiJia,  and  the 
trail  of  tlie  fti^^itives  was  followed  southward.  A  consider,  ble  force 
of  India'i  warriors  Wiis  dispersed,  and  driven  to  take  refuse  'u  the 
mora.'JS  upon  the  Ilatchee  Lu.stee  '  reek,  and  on  the  following  t^ay, 
being  the  28th  of  the  month,  a  p:  isoner  was  sent  to  propose  U;  th  > 
Seminole  chiefs  a  meeting  for  conference.  This  wjis  finally  brought 
about  by  the  influence  of  Abraham,  a  quick- uitted  negro,  who  olli- 
ciated  as  Micanopy's  chief  counsellor.  The  18th  of  February  wa.s 
appointed  for  a  meeting  to  be  hfld  at  Fort  Dade,  on  the  Big  Oiiith- 
laeoochee.  Thus  ended  the  campaign,  and  tlie  invading  army  pro- 
cet'dcd  northward. 

A  truce  had  been  aj-o'ed  upon  until  the  time  for  concluding  the 


THE    UNITED    STATES. 


393 


treaty,  but  information  as  to  this  arrangement  was  not  disseminated 
with  sufficient  promptness  to  put  an  immediate  stop  to  hostilities. 
Philip,  with  some  hundreds  of  his  warriors,  made  a  vain  attack  upon 
the  encampment  at  Lake  Monroe,  in  command  of  Colonel  Fanning, 
and  garrisoned  by  regulars,  volunteers,  and  a  party  of  Creeks.  When 
the  meeting  appointed  at  Fort  Dade  was,  after  some  delays,  brought 
about,  the  treaty  of  Payne's  Landing  was,  in  effect,  renewed,  and 
days  were  fixed  for  the  assembling  of  the  Indians  at  Tampa  Bay,  in 
order  to  embark  on  board  government  vessels.  It  was  soon  apparent, 
however,  that  they  had  no  idea  of  leaving  the  country.  The  war- 
like and  subtle  Osceola  exerted  his  influence  over  the  old  Kinw 
Micanopy,  to  prevent  compliance  with  the  treaty,  and  either  by  force 
or  persuasion  induced  him  to  withdraw,  with  his  followers,  from 
Tampa  Bay  to  the  interior.  The  spring  had  passed  away,  and 
nothing  was  accomplished;  the  heat  of  summer  began  to  tell  upon 
the  troops,  and  Forts  Mellon  and  Volusia  were  abandoned;  so  that 
throughout  the  south-eastern  portion  of  the  peninsula  the  Indians  had 
undisputed  possession  of  the  whole  country. 

In  the  month  of  September,  active  operations  were  renewed. 
Philip,  hifi  son,  the  Chi«f  Uchee  Billy,  and  about  one  hundred  of 
their  company,  were  captured  near  St.  Augustine,  and  other  notable 
warriors,  weary  of  hopeless  warfare,  surrendered  themselves  in  other 
districts.  Troops  had  been  poured  into  Florida  until  the  United 
States'  force  amounted  to  between  eight  and  nine  thousand  men, 
but  notwithstanding  this  overwhelming  preponderance  of  numbers 
over  those  of  the  Indians,  no  prospect  of  a  termination  of  the  Aar 
seemed  open.  Under  these  circumstances,  the  repeated  breaches  of 
faith  on  the  part  of  the  Indians,  appeared  to  the  commander-in-chief 
a  sufTicient  excuse  for  treating  them  as  savages  unworthy  the  protec- 
tion afforded  by  the  rules  of  civilized  warfare.  Osceola,  Alligator, 
and  six  others  in  authority  among  the  natives  were  seized,  together 
with  many  of  tlieir  followers,  near  Fort  Peyton,  whither  they  had 
come  for  the  purpose  of  a  parley. 

The  next  expfnUticn  of  importance  was  that  of  Colonel  Zachary 
Taylor,  who  led  a  force  of  about  six  hundred  men  into  the  heart  of 
the  enemy'b  country.  He  pushed  his  way  to  the  borders  of  the 
Everglades,  and  encountered  the  objecis  of  his  search  on  the  eastern 
shore  of  Kissiniee  lake.  Thus  attacked  in  their  own  quarters,  and 
in  a  manner  at  b.ay,  the  savages  fought  desperately.  They  main- 
tained their  ground  with  determined  courage,  and  although  finally 


4 


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111 


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H 


II         1 


iilM 


891 


THE   PEOPLE'S   BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


defeated  and  driven  into  tbe  swamps,  their  loss  was  smaller  than 
that  of  their  assailants.  Twenty-eight  of  Colonel  Taylor's  party 
were  killed,  an  i  no  less  than  one  hundred  and  eleven  were  wounded. 

In  the  course  of  he  ensuing  winter  great  numbers  of  the  Indians, 
worn  out  by  exposure  and  famine,  and  hopeless  of  maintaining  their 
ground,  surrendered  at  discretion.  These  were,  for  the  most  part, 
shipped  westward.  Although  no  longer  acting  in  combined  and 
systematic  warfare,  those  who  remained  continued  to  scour  the  coun- 
try, and  to  murder  and  plunder  wherever  opportunity  offered.  This 
state  of  things  continued  through  the  years  of  1838,  '9,  and  '40. 
In  December  of  the  latter  year.  Colonel  Harney  penetrated  the  Ever- 
glades by  means  bf  boats,  and  surprised  the  encampment  of  the 
chief  Chaikika.  The  details  of  the  various  marauding  expeditions 
of  the  Indians,  and  their  skirmishes  with  detached  bodies  of  troops 
would  occupy  too  much  space  for  further  recital.  The  war  did  not 
end  by  any  coup  de  main.  The  savages  were  gradually  so  fair 
reduced  in  numbers  by  captute  or  surrender  that  they  ceased  to  be 
formidable.    Four  hundred  were  shipped  westward  in  the  year  1842. 

Those  who  still  remain  in  possession  of  the  interior  of  Southern 
Florida,  number,  as  is  supposed,  from  three  to  five  hundred.  With 
this  feeble  remnant  of  the  powerful  nation  whii-h  it  cost  such 
immense  expenditure  of  life  and  treasure  to  subdue,  difficulties 
have  recently  been  renewed,  and  there  is  too  much  reason  to  fear 
that  our  nation  will  again  be  disgraced  by  a  war  in  which  the  power 
of  the  United  States  may  be  exerted  in  vain  endeavours  to  ferret 
out  and  extirpate  a  few  miserable  savages  from  an  unknown  and 
unexplored  wilderness.  :  ,      ,i  ■;  i 


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TUE   UMTED   STATK8.  395 


..  ;..■     .       CH  APT  EE   I  ?  11.     ,  >-'^'  ..: 

ADMINISTRATION   OF   VAN   BURKN:   FINANCIAL  PRESSURE:   THE 

SUB-TREASURY:    CANADIAN    REVOLT:    THE   NORTH-EASTERN 

BOUNDARY:   THE   AFPUR  OF   THE   AMISTAD. — HARRISON 

AND   TYLER:   BANKRUPT   LAW:   PREEMPTION:  THE  VETO 

POWER:     TARIFF. ADMISSION    01    TBIA8. 

Martin  Van  Buken  was  elected  president,  and  Richard  M. 
Johnson  vice-president,  for  the  term  commencing  March  4th,  1837. 
This  year  was  memorable  for  the  most  remarkable  and  extensive 
pecuniary  pressure  ever  felt  by  the  country,  except  when  directly 
subjected  to  the  burden  of  war.  In  compliance  with  a  circular 
(jider  issued  from  the  treasury  department  in  1835,  government 
dues  were  demanded  to  be  paid  in  gold  or  silver.  Specie  was  thus 
drawn  from  circulation  to  a  vast  extent,  and  a  general  stoppage  of 
payment  was  resorted  to  by  the  banks,  as  the  only  remedy  for  the 
unceasing  drain  upon  their  resources.  This  procedure  was  directly 
encouraged  by  the  legislatures  of  several  states. 

At  a  special  session  of  congress,  held  in  September,  the  president, 
with  the  concurren>'3e  of  Mr.  Woodbury,  secretary  of  the  treasury, 
representing  the  existing  impossibility  of  compliance  with  the  act  of 
congress,  which  required  a  deposit  of  the  public  moneys  in  specie- 
paying  banks,  proposed  a  new  plan  for  the  security  of  these  funds, 
known  as  the  "sub-treasury"  scheme.  This  was  the  establishment 
of  separate  places  of  deposit  in  different  parts  of  the  Union,  so  dis- 
tributed as  to  diminish  the  expense  and  risk  of  transportation  of 
specie — the  intention  of  government  still  remaining  to  insist  upon 
adherence  to  the  principles  upon  which  the  specie  circular  was  based. 

A  bill  for  this  purpose  was  carried  in  the  senate,  but  failed  in  the 
lK)use.  To  meet  the  expenses  of  government,  treasury  notes  were 
ordered  to  be  issued,  and  an  instalment  of  the  surplus  revenue, 
iilieady  ordered  for  distribution  among  the  states,  was  retained.  It 
was  long  before  the  mercantile  community  recovered  from  the  un.set- 
tlod  state  of  affairs  at  this  period.  The  banks  did  not  resume  specie 
payments  until  August  of  the  year  following,  when  an  agreement 
R>r  that  purpose  went  into  operation  sinialtaneously  tliroughout 
tlie  principal  states.     Meanwhile,  the  ruin  of  thousands  had  been 


"«  11 


m 


896 


THE  I'EOl'LE'S  BOOK  OF   UISTOKY. 


accomitlislied,  and   general   distrust  and   uncertainty  attended  all 
c*  'Xnniereial  transactions. 

In  December,  1837,  certain  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  northern 
frontier  became  involved  in  the  Canadian  revolt  which  broke  out  in 
that  year.  A  large  number  of  those  favouring  the  insurgents  occu- 
pied and  fortified  Navy  island,  in  the  Niagara  river.  The  steamer 
Caroline,  emploj'ed  to  convey  stores,  &c.,  to  the  island,  was  seized  at 
Schlosser,  on  the  American  shore,  on  the  night  of  December  29tli,  by 
a  party  from  the  Canadian  shore,  was  set  on  fire,  and  sent  over  the 
falls.  One  man  attached  to  the  steamer,  named  Durfee,  was  killed  in 
the  fray,  others  were  wounded,  and  several  were  said  to  be  missing. 
The  interference  of  Americans  with  Canadian  affairs  received  no 
countenance  from  government,  but  the  irregular  manner  in  which 
retaliation  was  conducted,  and  the  invasion  of  our  territory  by  the 
attack  on  the  Caroline,  were  matters  of  difficult  adjustment. 

In  the  year  1838,  serious  difficulties  arose  upon  the  north-eastern 
b«>rdcr  of  New  England.  The  boundary  line  between  the  Briti.sh 
provinces  and  the  state  of  Maine  was  unsettled,  and  negotiation  was 
then  in  progress  for  its  final  establishment.  The  state  authorities, 
unwilling  to  await  the  protracted  action  of  the  general  goven.nient, 
resorted  to  forcible  measures  for  the  arrest  of  encroachment,  l)y 
individuals,  upon  that  portion  of  the  disputed  territory  then  under 
their  actual  jurisdiction. 

Tlie  state  land-agent,  despatched,  with  a  small  company,  to  put 
a  stop  to  the  cutting  of  timber  by  these  trespassers,  was  taken  pris- 
oner by  the  latter,  and  carried  into  New  Brunswick.  Other  officials 
were  promptly  commissioned  to  maintain  the  rights  claimed  by  the 
state,  and,  with  a  body  ot  armed  men,  proceeded  to  the  scene  of 
disturbance.  The  consequence  of  such  InjUigerent  movements  nat- 
uniUy  was  to  create  great  excitement  on  the  border,  whicli  soon 
extended  throughout  the  United  States.  In  the  discussion  of  tlie 
question,  by  corresfiondence  between  the  governorh  of  Maine  and 
New  Brunswick,  much  exacerbation  of  feeling  was  evident. 

The  matter  was  laid  before  congress,  in  the  month  of  February, 
in  a  message  from  the  president,  and  such  action  wa.s  taken  as 
resulted  in  averting  the  threatened  hostilities,  and  in  preserving  the 
existing  occupation  of  either  party  until  the  whole  question  in  dis- 
pute could  be  definitely  settled.  General  Scott  was  specially  com 
niissiorH'd  to  proceed  to  the  debatable  ground,  and  take  measures 
for  jireventing  any  further  collision.     Nece8.sary  precautions  v.ero 


THE  UNITED   STATEP 


897 


allowed  to  be  taken  by  the  authorities  of  the  state  of  Maine  to  guard 
against  a  continuance  of  depredation,  in  the  interim;  but  this  was 
directed  to  be  accomplished  by  the  civil  authority,  without  the  inter- 
vention of  an  armed  force. 

One  of  the  most  noticeable  occurrences  during  the  following  year, 
(1839,)  as  connected  with  our  foreign  relations,  was  the  seizure  of 
the  Spanish  schoon^ir  Amistad.  She  was  captured  and  brought 
into  New  London  in  the  month  of  August,  by  a  United  States' 
vessel,  under  the  following  circumstances:  "On  board  of  her  were 
two  white  men,  Spaniards,  Jose  Ruiz  and  Pedro  Montez,  and  fifty- 
four  African  negroes,  under  command  of  one  of  theii  own  number, 
whose  name  was  Cinquez.  The  Amistad,  it  appeared  from  subse- 
quent investigations,  had  sailed  from  Havana,  in  the  island  rf  Cuba, 
for  another  port  in  the  West  India  islands,  with  a  cargo  of  mer- 
chandise, and  the  Africans  on  board,  claimed  as  slaves  by  the  two 
Spaniards,  Ruiz  and  Montez.  After  having  been  four  nights  at  sea, 
the  negroes  loso  upon  thg  whites,  killed  the  captain  luul  crew,  took 
possession  of  the  schooner,  and,  in  endeavouring  to  -eturn  to  Africa, 
wtre  at  length  foand  convey(!d  to  the  shores  of  Lon  r  Island."* 

Proceedings  were  instituted  against  these  negroes  in  the  courts  of 
the  Uiiit?d  States,  upon  chaigct  of  piracy  and  murder;  and  also  at 
the  suit  of  the  Spanish  claimants,  Ruiz  and  Montez.  No  bill  was 
found  against  thonv  by  the  grand-jury,  to  which  the  criminal  charge 
was  referred;  and  the  question  of  civil  right  was  finally  established 
in  their  favour  by  the  supreme  court.  As  native  Africans,  born 
free,  they  were  restored  to  liberty,  and  finally  sent  back  to  their  own 
country.  Previous  to  their  departure,  great  efforts  were  made  by 
individuals  to  give  them  some  insight  into  the  advantages  of  civil- 
ization, and  such  instruction  as  time  and  opportunity  might  admit. 
The  natural  inclitmtion  of  the  savage  for  the  free,  unfettered  life  to 
whioh  he  has  been  accustomed,  to  a  certain  extent  disappointed  the 
expectations  of  those  who  had  interested  themselves  in  this  matter. 

The  decision  of  the  federal  courts,  and  the  consequent  enlarj^ement 
of  the  negroes,  gave  great  offence  to  the  Spanish  government,  and  a 
claim,  on  behalf  of  the  owners  of  the  vessel  and  cargo,  has  been 
repeatedly  presse.'.  in  the  conduct  of  later  negotiations. 

At  the  close  of  a  four  years'  term.  Van  Buren  was  succeeded  by 
William  Henry  Harrison,  whose  popularity  at  the  west  had  remained 
undiminished  from  the  period  of  his  military  services  in  the  front'or 

♦  Book  of  tlie  United  Stutes. 


':a     (i 


I 
I 


'4\\ 


898 


TUE  PEOPLE'S   Br.' 


OF   UI8T0BY. 


war  with  the  British  and  Indians.  The  iuhuguration  took  place  on 
the  4th  of  March,  1841.  One  month  later,  April  4th,  the  death  of 
President  lie  ' . .  -n  gave  occasion,  for  the  first  time,  for  the  applica- 
tion of  the  cjiisiitutional  provision  for  such  contingency.  The  vice- 
president,  John  Tyler,  of  Virginia,  entered  upon  the  vacant  office. 

A  special  session  of  congress,  called  hy  Harrison  during  his  brief 
administration,  was  held  at  the  close  of  May.  During  the  summer 
several  important  acta  were  passed,  mostly  having  reference  to  the 
disturbed  state  of  financial  aifairs  still  existing.  A  general  bank- 
rupt law  was  the  first  of  these;  a  measure  in  which  congress  took 
upon  itself  the  responsibility  of  an  act  retrospective  in  its  character, 
and  in  gross  violation  of  contracts.  The  general  dissatisfaction  of 
the  people  at  its  unjust  operation,  was  evinced  by  its  repeal  at  the 
regular  session  of  1842-S.  Next  came  the  repeal  of  the  sub-treasury 
law,  which  had  been  finally  carried  through  during  the  previous 
term.  Provision  was  made  for  an  increase  of  revenue  by  additiont.] 
duties  on  importations.  >  p 

To  encourage  the  occupation  and  improvement  of  public  lands, 
a  right  of  preemption,  at  the  lowest  government  prices,  was  secured 
to  actual  settlers  upon  unappropriated  lands,  limited,  in  extent,  to 
one  hundred  and  sixty  acres  fur  each  individual  or  family,  according 
to  particular  provisions.  A  bill,  incorporating  a  national  bank, 
expressly  for  the  purpose  of  providing  a  fit  agency  for  the  transaction 
of  the  monetary  alTairs  of  government,  passed  both  houses  of  con- 
gress; but,  to  the  astonishment  and  indignation  of  the  party  then  in 
the  ascendant,  it  received  the  presidential  veto  on  the  16th  of 
August.  The  grounds  of  objection,  submitted  by  Mr.  Tyler,  were 
the  absence  of  constitutional  power  in  congress  to  create  such  an 
institution.  Brought  up  a  second  time,  under  a  new  name,  and  with 
greater  restrictions  in  its  operation,  the  bill  was  again  defeated  by 
the  president,  and,  as  a  two-thirds  vote  could  not  be  obtained  in  its 
favour,  the  measure  fell  through. 

In  the  summer  of  1842,  the  return  of  an  exploring  expedition, 
fitted  out  from  the  United  States,  under  command  of  Wilkes,  four 
years  previous,  excited  universal  interest.  The  discovery  and  coast- 
ing, for  more  than  a  thousand  miles,  of  the  Antarctic  continent;  the 
assiduous  prosecution  of  philosophical  researches,  by  the  naturalists 
connected  with  the  expedition;  and  the  great  addition  to  the  general 
fund  of  information  rc8{)ecting  countries  remote  and  seldom  visitod, 
were  mutters  of  national  pride  and  gratification. 


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THE   UNITED  STATES. 


899 


In  the  month  of  August  of  this  year,  the  long-disputed  question 
respecting  the  north-eastel-n  boundary,  was  finally  adjusted.  The 
negotiations  were  conducted,  on  the  part  of  Great  Britain,  by  Lord 
Ashburton,  specially  commissioned  for  this  purpose,  and,  on  the  part 
of  the  United  States,  by  Mr.  Webster,  then  secretary  of  state.  This 
treaty  also  related  to  other  matters  in  dispute,  or  of  mutual  conve- 
nience and  necessity.  Among  these,  were  regulations  for  the  extra- 
dition of  fugitives  from  justice,  and  stipulations  for  joint  operations 
in  suppressing  the  slave-trade. 

About  this  time,  a  further  revision  of  the  tariflF  took  place,  by 
which  an  ad  valorem  duty  of  thirty  per  cent,  was  laid  upon  articles 
not  specially  excepted,  and  protective  imposts  were  affixed  to  others 
specifically  designated.  As  at  first  carried,  the  bill  did  not  meet  the 
views  of  the  president,  and  he  did  not  scruple  to  make  further  use 
of  his  veto  power.  Afler  some  alterations,  with  difficulty  sustained 
in  congress,  it  received  his  assent.  The  feeling  of  the  house  of  rep- 
resentatives, respecting  the  course  adopted  by  the  president,  was 
severely  expressed  in  the  report  of  a  committee  to  which  the  last 
veto  was  referred.  Mr.  Tyler,  on  the  other  hand,  responded  by  an 
indignant  protest  against  the  apparent  attempt  to  impugn  his  motives 
or  to  fetter  his  constitutional  prerogative. 

Near  the  close  of  his  official  career,  in  January,  1845,  President 
Tyler  succeeded  in  carrying  out  a  measure  of  vast  future  conse- 
quence. This  was  the  passage  of  a  joint  resolution  by  congress, 
providing  for  the  admission  of  the  revolutionized  state  of  Texas 
into  the  confederacy  of  the  United  States.  The  terms  of  admission, 
cession  of  public  territory,  &c.,  were  left  open  for  future  negotiation. 
A  cursory  view  of  the  early  history  of  this  territory,  as  a  Mexican 
province,  and  the  course  of  events  lejidingto  the  establishment  of  its 
independence,  will  form  a  subject  for  our  sepai'ate  consideration. 
Vol.  IV.— 64 


M!i 


I 

^ 


V.i 


c-- 


400 


THE   PEOPLE'S  BOOK   OF  BISTORT. 


r!!.:  ',iii': 


Ti\i'.  >ij- 


-.vi^'^r" 


TEXAS  AS  A  8PAKISH  FBOTINCS:    ORANT   TO   KOSSS   AV8TIH: 
COLONIZATION;  DIPFICULTIB8  OP  THB  8BTTIBR8. — RETOLU- 
TION   IN  MBXICO:   BUSTAIIENTB:   PIRST  RBTOLDTIONART 
■,y    XOYBMBNTS    IN    TEXAS:    SANTA    ANNA'S    PRB8IDENCT: 

HIS     USURPATION.  —  SECOND     TEXAN    CAMPAIGN: 
rr/  SUCCESS  OP  THE  PATRIOTS:   INVASION  BY  SANTA 

ANNA:    BATTLE    OP  SAN  JACINTO:    INDEPEND- 
BNCB    ESTABLISHED. 

Thk  extensive  and  fertile  province  of  Texas  received  but  little 
attention  in  the  early  days  of  Mexican  conquest  by  the  Spaniards. 
It  presented  no  inducement  to  the  gold-hunter,  and  the  invade|rs 
were  of  a  different  mould  from  those  in  afler-times  destined  to 
develop  its  unsurpassed  agricultural  resources.  The  colonists  who 
succeeded  the  original  adventurers  from  Spain,  were  in  equal  degree 
neglectful  of  the  field  for  industry  and  successful  enterprise  opened 
for  them  in  the  rolling  prairies  and  rich  bottom-lands  of  Texas. 
The  few  white  inhabitants  of  the  province  resided,  for  the  most  part, 
in  or  about  the  small  Spanish  towns  of  Nacogdoches  and  San  Anto- 
nio. Prior  to  the  revolut'on  in  Mexico,  the  face  of  this  whole 
country  was  scarcely  changed  frofti  its  origins'  ct,  notwithstand- 
ing the  remarkable  facility  with  which  it  c  ^e  brought  under 
cultivation. 

A  little  before  the  downfall  of  Spanish  power  upon  the  western 
continent,  in  the  month  of  January,  1821,  Moses  Austin,  a  citizen 
of  Connecticut,  concluded  a  negotiation  opened  with  the  colonial 
government  for  the  purpose  of  commencing  a  colonization  of  the 
coast  district  A  tract  of  land  was  assigned,  extending  one  hundred 
miles  upon  the  coast,  and  still  farther  inland,  into  which  Austin 
contracted  to  introduce  three  hundred  families  of  immigrants,  ench 
family  to  be  secured  in  possession  of  a  square  league  of  land,  and  to 
be  allowed  extensive  specified  privileges  of  exemption  from  taxation, 
and  the  right  to  free  importation  of  commodities  otherwise  taxable. 

•'The  privilege  and  distinction  of  carrying  out  this  important 
undertaking  devolved  upon  Stephen  F.  Austin,  a  son  of  the  original 
grantee.     After  many  unsuccessful  attempts  to  induce  the  embarka- 


THE  UNITED  STATES.  40I 

tion  of  eastern  capital  in  the  new  settlements,  be  proceeded  to  Texas, 
accompanied  by  sucb  adventurers,  witb  their  families,  as  be  could 
persuade  to  try  their  fortunes  in  the  new  country.  Others  had 
engaged  to  .follow  at  a  convenient  opportunity.  The  emigrants 
reached  the  Brazos  river  in  the  month  of  December  (1^21).  Prom 
various  causes,  their  condition  was  trying  and  precarious:  two  ves- 
sels, freighted  with  provisions  and  supplies,  bad  been  sent  out  from 
New  Orleans,  but  one  of  these  was  lost,  and  the  cargo  of  the  other 
was  plundered  by  the  Carancahuas,  or  Coast  Indians. 

"In  addition  to  their  sufferings  from  destitution  and  from  savage 
depredations,  a  new  source  of  anxiety  arose  in  the  uncertainty  of  the 
tenure  by  which  they  held  their  lands;  as  the  Spanish  yoke  had 
now  been  thrown  off  by  Mexico.  In  order  to  obtain  a  confirmation 
of  the  former  grant,  from  the  existing  government,  Austin  pro- 
ceeded, in  person,  to  the  city  of  Mexico,  and  presented  the  claims 
of  his  colony  to  the  authorities.  Such  delays  were  experienced  from 
the  unsettled  state  of  affairs  in  the  new  republic,  that  it  was  more 
than  a  year  from  the  time  of  his  departure  before  he  returned  to 
relieve  the  apprehension  of  his  associates,  by  the  intelligence  that 
the  old  contract  was  ratified  by  the  Mexican  congress."* 

"While  the  title  to  the  coast  grant  remained  in  abeyance,  colonists 
from  the  United  States  hesitated  to  stake  their  fortunes  upon  the 
uncertain  action  of  the  republic,  and  many  of  them  returned  home, 
completely  disheartened.  Others  occupied  the  unsettled  tract  ex- 
tending from  the  bank  of  the  Sabine  to  the  Brazos,  forming  the 
nucleus  of  the  present  thrifty  and  prosperous  settlements  in  that 

quarter.  ^_  •■:     .  ,       ,    •■  *  ■     ,-     ->•/■ 

The  return  of  Austin  gave  a  new  impetus  to  the  operations  of  the 
colony.  The  formidable  Carancahua  Indians,  whose  inroads  had 
kept  the  settlers  in  continual  alarm;  throughout  the  period  of  his 
absence,  were,  by  his  energetic  action,  extirpated  or  overawed,  and 
gave  little  further  trouble  to  the  white  inhabitants.  r.--*'-^  -r 
Texas  was  incorporated  with  Coahuila  as  a  separate  state,  under 
the  republican  systein;  but  all  political  influence  remained,  for  the 
time,  in  the  hands  of  the  latter  province,  on  account  of  its  larger 
population.  The  inhabitants  of  Coahuila,  of  Spanish  descent,  felt 
little  fraternity  towards  the  settlers  from  the  United  States.  The 
latter,  nevertheless,  in  their  isolated  position,  had  nothing  of  which 
to  complain  in  their  treatment  by  the  central  government,  prior  to 

•  Discoverers,  Pioneers,  &c.,  of  America. 


402 


TU£  PEOPLE'S   BOOK   OF  UISTOBT. 


the  admiQistration  of  Bustamente.  They  enjoyed  perfect  immu- 
nity from  any  religious  restrictions,  and  were,  at  least,  allowed  the 
privilege  of  self-protection,  both  as  to  person  and  property.  In 
1830,  their  numbers  had  increased  to  nearly  thirty  thousand. 

Bustamente,  who  owed  his  authority  to  military  usurpation,  exhib- 
ited a  total  disregard  of  the  rights  of  the  Texan  colonists,  either  us 
occupants  under  the  grant  of  the  republic,  or  as  peaceable  imnii- 
granta  engaged  in  the  improvement  of  unappropriated  public  lands, 
in  accordance  with  liberal  provisions  of  former  colonization  laws. 
These  laws  were  repealed;  the  title  to  lands  already  appropriated 
and  improved,  was  called  in  question;  and  detachments  of  armed 
troops  were  stationed  at  various  points,  to  check  any  resistance  to 
the  establishment  of  a  new  order  of  government 

To  maintain  more  efficient  control  over  the  inhabitants,  the  dic- 
tator ordered  the  erection  of  forts  at  Nacogdoches,  Anahuac,  and 
Velasco,  which  were  garrisoned,  and  placed  under  command  of  mili- 
tary officials.  These  precautions  first  taken,  a  series  of  tyrannical  and 
arbitrary  proceedings  against  the  inhabitants  uuiumunued.  "Citizens 
were  arrested  and  confined,  in  several  instances,  upon  vague  charges 
of  disatfection  to  the  existing  government;  the  civil  authority  in 
several  of  the  municipalities  was  declared  to  be  superseded,  and  in 
all  totally  disregarded;  in  short,  the  inhabitants  of  Texas  found 
themselves,  in  the  midst  of  peace,  suddenly  subjected  to  mariial  law, 
administered  by  officers  who  appeared  to  have  been  sent  there  for 
no  other  purpose  than  to  make  war  upon  the  rights  secured  to  them 
by  the  constitution  of  the  country. 

"The  inhabitants,  scattered  over  a  wide  extent  of  country  in  iso- 
lated settlements  and  single  plantations,  and,  as  yet,  without  ruads 
or  bridges  to  shorten  or  facilitate  an  intercourse  between  them,  were 
not  immediately  made  acquainted  with  the  nature  and  extent  of 
these  outrages  upon  their  rights.  They  were  not  of  a  mettle,  how- 
ever, to  surrender  them  without  an  effort  for  redress."* 

A  meeting  was  called,  and  it  was  resolved  that  the  wisest  and, 
indeed,  safest  policy  was  an  immediate  resort  to  arms.  On  the  24Ui 
of  June,  (1832,)  John  Austin,  at  the  head  of  sixty  volunteers,  at- 
tacked the  fort  at  Vchisco,  garrisoned  by  one  hundred  and  fifty  men. 
His  first  movement  was  to  seize  upon  a  schooner,  lying  in  the  river, 
on  board  of  which  he  embarked  his  little  company,  and,  ancliorir)g 
opposite  the  fort,  opened  fire  ujMjn  it  with  a  small  cannon.     The  firo 

•  NiltV  Iliiitoricfll  View  of  Texas. 


.»  ■.!  I 


TUE  UNITED   STAIKS. 


403 


from  the  fort  was  almost  entirely  ineffective,  and  the  garrison,  making 
a  sally,  attempted  to  gain  possession  of  the  vessel  by  boarding. 
They  were  driven  off,  with  considerable  loss.  On  the  following 
morning  the  fort  was  evacuated;  the  troops,  delivering  up  their  arms 
to  the  assailants,  were  allowed  to  retire  unmolested. 

The  garrison  at  Anahuac,  espousing  the  cause  of  Bustamente's 
opponents  in  Mexico,  abandoned  the  fort  to  the  Texan  insurgents. 
At  Nacogdoches,  the  Mexican  stronghold  was  forcibly  seized  by  the 
inhabitants  of  the  neighbourhood,  and  the  garrison,  attempting  to 
escape  by  a  night  march,  were  pursued,  and  their  retreat  was  cut 
off  by  a  handful  of  mounted  Texans.  Over-estimating  the  force  of 
their  opponents,  the  Mexicans  agreed  upon  a  capitulation,  and  de- 
livered up  their  arms. 

Fortunately  for  the  inhauitanta  of  Texas,  the  downfall  of  Busta- 
mente  put  an  end,  for  the  time,  to  this  unequal  contest  with  the 
central  government  His  successful  competitor,  General  Santa  Anna, 
was  elevated  to  the  presidency,  and  the  course  adopted  during  the 
early  portion  of  his  administration  gave  promise  of  a  better  state  of 
affairs.  Previous  to  this  period,  a  vast  number  of  grants  had  been 
obtained  from  the  Mexican  government,  by  enterprising  individuals 
from  Europe  and  the  United  States,  upon  conditions  analogous  to 
those  imposed  upon  Austin;  but,  in  most  cases,  the  grantees  were 
unable  to  fulfil  their  part  of  the  contracts.  The  attention  of  the 
public,  however,  was  turned  to  the  richness  of  the  country  by  the 
representations  of  these  speculators,  and  a  constant  immigration  was 
the  result 

The  year  1832  was  memorable  for  renewed  hostilities  with  the 
Indians  of  the  interior,  and  for  the  ravages  of  the  cholera  among 
the  white  settlers.  Notwithstanding  these  reverses,  the  popu- 
lation continued  rapidly  to  increase,  and,  in  the  following  year, 
proposals  were  set  on  foot  for  effecting  a  separation  of  this  province 
from  Coahuila,  and  its  erection  into  a  new  state  in  the  Mexican 
confederacy. 

A  petition  to  this  effect  was  presented  by  Austin  to  the  Mexican 
congress,  but  its  consideration  was  neglected  and  postponed.  Impa- 
tient at  delay,  and,  as  is  said,  considering  that  some  active  demon- 
stration on  the  part  of  the  Texans  might  "advance,  rather  than 
prejudice  their  claim,"  he  wrote  to  his  constituents,  advising  the  call 
of  a  convention  for  the  organization  of  a  state  government  Upon 
his  way  homeward,  he  was  arrested  and  imprisoned  by  the  Mexican 


404 


TUK  ri^uri.iu'i>   UUUK   Oif   iUiiTuUY. 


authorities,  who  had  obtained  information  respecting  this  letter, 
upon  an  accusation  of  carrying  on  a  treasonable  correspondence. 

The  ambitious  projects  of  Santa  Anna,  aiming  at  the  establishment 
of  military  supremacy  over  the  republic,  were  crowned  with  success 
in  1834.  The  provinces  of  Zacatecas  and  Texas  alone  exhibited  a 
contumacious  disposition.  The  former  was  reduced  to  submission 
by  the  most  sanguinary  violence,  and  its  unfortunate  inhabitants 
were  subjected  to  martial  law,  and  placed  under  the  domination  of 
military  officials.  A  similar  course  was  resolved  upon  in  relation 
to  Texas,  but  the  result  proved  how  far  the  Mexican  authorities  had 
miscalculated  the  temper  and  capacity  of  the  .I)arc[y  immigrants  who 
composed  its  population.  '"^"^-"^  '"'  ^"  ^'^  '^'i ' 

Troops  were  sent  into  the  province,  and  an  order  was  issued  by 
the  commanding  officer,  General  Cos,  for  the  surrender  of  all  col- 
lections of  arms.  The  inhabitants,  while  they  scorned  to  comply 
with  the  requisition,  awaited  some  overt  act  of  military  usurpation 
prior  to  any  armed  combination  for  resistance.  A  meeting  of  dele- 
gates was  called,  to  hold  their  session  on  the  15th  of  October,  and 
consult  as  to  the  most  advisable  course  to  be  pursued.  The  first 
attempt  by  the  Mexican  authorities  to  disarm  the  Texans,  was  made 
at  Gonzales,  on  the  Guadaloupe,  near  the  north-western  limit  of  the 
American  settlements.  One  hundred  and  fifty  mounted  men,  dis- 
patched to  take  possession  of  a  piece  of  artillery  at  this  remote  vil- 
lage, were  opposed  and  driven  off  by  the  inhabitants  and  those  who 
had  assembled  for  their  assistance,  on  the  80th  of  September  (1835). 
Strengthened  by  reinforcements  to  a  company  of  five  hundred  men, 
the  Texans  at  Gonzales,  under  command  of  Austin,  prepared  to 
march  upon  San  Antonio  de  Bexar. 

About  this  time,  the  Mexican  fortr^  at  La  Bahia,  6t  Goliad, 
on  the  San  Antonio  river,  was  seized  by  an  independent  party 
of  Texan&  The  garrison,  completely  surprised  by  a  night  at- 
tack, were  easily  overpowered,  and  a  most  seasonable  supply  of 
arms,  amraunition,  and  stores,  was  secured  for  the  use  of  the 
insurgents. 

Considerable  time  was  occupied  by  the  main  body  of  the  Texan 
army  in  preparations  for  the  reduction  of  San  Antonio,  where  Gen- 
eral Cos  was  posted  with  a  strong  force.  Before  the  commencement 
of  active  operations  in  that  quarter,  the  Texan  delegation  assembled, 
and  organized  a  temporary  government.  Henry  Smith  received  the 
appointment  of  governor;  Stephen  F.  Austin  was  deputed  to  pro- 


f 


THE   UMTKU   sTATfcS. 


•105 


c-.ure  aid  from  tlie  United  States,  and  Samuel  Houston  was  chosen 
commander-in-chief  of  the  forces. 

"  General  Houston,  previous  to  his  connexion  with  the  fortunes  of 
Texas,  had  led  a  life  of  such  strange  vicissitudes,  as  must  develop 
all  the  powers  and  energies  of  man.  As  soldier,  lawyer,  and  legis- 
lator, he  had  exhibited  unusual  acumen  and  steady  self-reliance. 
Equally  at  home  in  an  Indian  wigwam  or  in  the  halls  of  congress, 
he  had  spent  years  among  the  aborigines  of  the  country,  sharing 
their  rude  accommodations,  and  pursuing  their  primitive  avocations. 
By  this  intimate  communion,  he  acquired  not  only  a  sympathy  with 
that  unfortunate  race,  which  has  ever  appeared  in  all  his  dealings 
with  them,  but  an  influence  and  control  over  their  affections  and 
conduct,  incomparably  greater  than  that  attained  by  any  other 
living  man. 

"Having  removed  to  Texas,  he  entered  heart  and  soul  into  the 
early  movements  of  the  patriots,  and  so  fully  secured  the  confidence 
and  respect  of  his  associates,  that,  at  the  most  dangerous  period  in 
the  history  of  the  country,  he  was  appointed,  as  before  mentioned, 
to  the  supreme  military  command."*  i  i  -u^b-y 

Upon  the  departure  of  General  Austin  to  fulfil  the  dftties  of  his 
conimission,  the  command  of  the  army  encamped  before  San  Antonio 
devolved  upon  Colonel  Burleson.    On  the  5th  of  December,  an  attack 
was  commenced  upon  the  town.     The  contest  continued  for  four 
days,  at  the  end  of  which  time,  the  fort  of  the  Alamo  was  alone  ten- 
able by  the  besieged.    General  Cos,  therefore,  consented  to  capitu- 
late:   the  Mexican  officers  were  paroled,  and  their  troops  were 
disbanded  or  drawn  off.     Thus  the  last  Mexican  stronghold  in 
Texas  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  patriots;  that  s   ;  vpanticlan,'  on  the 
Nueces,  having  previously  surrendered  toa  voluntee  party  of  Texans. 
Great  interest  was  excited,  throughout  the  United  States,  by 
reports  of  the  position  of  affairs  in  Texas,  and  many  adventurers, 
mostly  young  and  active  men,  made  their  way  to  the  scene  of  action 
during  the  winter  ensuing,  and  proffered  their  servicea  in  the  revo- 
lutionary cause.    Months  passed  by  in  uncertainty  as  to  the  manner 
in  which  Santa  Anna  would  open  the  campaign.    He  finally  made 
his  appearance,  towards  the  close  of  February,  1886,  with  an  army 
of  eight  thousand  men.    The  right  division,  under  General  Urea, 
advanced  along  the  coast,  while  the  left,  commanded  by  Santa  Anna 
in  person,  marched  through  the  interior,  in  the  direction  of  San 
:(•''!'     ••    '  *  Diiiuovoreni,  &.U.,  of  Atuuikiu  '.    ' 


\l  * 


406 


TUK   r£0rLK'8   BOOK   OV   UlSToltY. 


Autonio.     The  whole  furce  of  the  Texans  in  actual  service  at  this 
crisis,  is  said  not  to  have  exceeded  five  hundred  men. 

The  first  intelligence  of  the  invasion  was  coupled  with  the  report 
that  a  company  of  the  revolutionists,  under  Colonels  Grant  and 
Johnson,  who  had  undertaken  an  expedition  against  Matamoras,  on 
the  Rio  Orande,  had  been  out  off  bj  the  advancing  army.  Santa 
Anna,  arriving  at  San  Antonio,  took  possession  of  the  place,  but  the 
Texan  garrison,  occupying  the  strong  fort  of  the  Alamo,  refused  to 
capitulate.  In  expectation  of  relief  from  without,  they  had  deter^ 
mined  to  defend  the  post  to  the  last  "  No  very  accurate  details 
have  been  given  of  the  manner  in  which  this  band  of  brave  men 
was  destroyed,  but  it  appears  that,  after  a  long  and  desperate  defence, 
the  fort  was  stormed  by  an  overwhelming  force,  and  the  garrison 
perished  to  a  man,  either  slain  in  the  conflict,  or  put  to  death  for 
defending  an  untenable  post" 

A  detachment  was  immediately  marched  from  San  Antonio  againsi 
Goliad.  The  Texaus  there  in  occupation,  under  Colonel  Fntinin,  on 
their  retreat  towards  Victoria,  were  pursued  and  surrounded  by  a 
vastly  superior  force.  The  whole  party  surrendered  to  the  enemy 
upon  favourable  terms  of  capitulation.  A  few  days  later,  on  the 
27th  of  March,  these  prisoners,  with  others  who  had  fallen  into  the 
hands  of  the  invaders,  to  the  number  of  more  than  four  hundred, 
were  brutally  massacred. 

While  these  events  were  in  progress,  the  Texan  delegates  had 
again  assembled,  and  unanimously  agreed  upon  a  declaration  of 
independence.  A  state  constitution  was  formed,  and,  together  with 
a  general  declaration  of  rights,  received  the  signatures  of  the  mem* 
beiB  on  the  17th  of  Maroh,  18S6. 

In  the  month  of  April,  Santa  Anna  pushed  forward  to  Harrisburg, 
the  temporary  capital,  with  the  design  of  seizing  upon  the  officers 
of  government  "Failing  in  this,  he  burned  the  town,  and  pro 
oeeded  down  Galveston  bay,  towards  New  Washington,  where  was 
a  cUpdt  of  military  stores.  On  his  return  towards  Lynch's  ferry,  on 
the  San  Jacinto,  with  the  intention  of  pressing  on  to  Anahuac,  he 
encountered  the  Texan  army,  ready  to  give  battle. 

"The  patriot  army  consisted  of  less  than  eight  hundred  men,  of 
all  ranks  and  occupations,  most  of  them  undisciplined,  and  ignorant 
of  military  affiurs.  The  Mexicans,  as  reinforced  by  five  hundred 
troops,  under  Cos,  on  the  morning  of  April  21st,  (the  day  of  battle,) 
numbered  nearly  or  quite  sixteen  hundred,  most  of  whoiii  were 


J 


\i 


V5^ 


i- 


\»- 


J'  ■  _ 


U  //>/./  1  M    It.    It  A  It  R  I  S  O  V, 
NINTH   PRKSIDENT   OF  TUB   UNITED  STATES. 
BORN  IN  1773  ;    IIIHTALLKP  TKTO  OFyiCE  TN  1811  ;  DIED 


ATRTL  4 


OF  THE  SAMK  "iKAK 


■V. 


..^■-^^ 


J  any  tyler, 

TEXTir   PRKSIDEXT  OF  THE  UXITEP  STATES. 

BORN  TN  nnO:    snCCKKDKD  TO    T'TrK    PRESIDENCY  BY  VIRTUE  OF  HTS 

OFFICE  AS  VICE-PRESIDENT.  ON  THR  DKATH  OF  W.  H.  HARRISON 

IN  1841  :  SERVED  THE  REMAINDER  OF  TTIF  TERM 


S  I 


THE   UNITED  STATES. 


407 


veteran  troops,  under  the  command  of  officers  of  skill  and  experi* 
ence.  Both  armies,  after  a  preliminary  skirmish,  encamped,  on  the 
night  of  thw  20th,  upon  the  right  bank  of  the  San  Jacinto,  just  below 
the  mouth  of  Buffalo  bayou.  The  action  commenced  at  half-past 
three,  P.  M.,  by  a  most  impetuous  attack  on  the  part  of  the  Texans, 
who  rushed  on,  to  the  war-cry  of  'Remember  the  Alamo  I'  The 
rout  of  the  Mexicans  was  complete,  and  the  pursuit  of  the  fugitives 
continued  until  night-fall."* 

According  to  General  Houston's  official  report,  the  loss  of  the 
Texans,  in  killed  and  wounded,  was  but  twenty-five.  Nearly  the 
entire  Mexican  force  was  destroyed,  or  surrendered  to  the  victors. 
Generals  Santa  Anna  and  Cos  were  both  taken  prisoners,  the  first 
on  the  day  succeeding  that  of  the  battle,  the  other  on  the  25th. 

Nothing  further  was  attempted  by  the  division  of  the  Mexican 
army  under  Urea.  The  whole  country  was  abandoned  to  the  pos- 
session of  the  revolut  ~>nlsts,  and  the  new  constitution  went  quietly 
into  effect.  General  Houston  was  elected  first  president  of  the 
republia  The  constant  increase  of  immigration,  subsequent  to  the 
establishment  of  independence,  rendered  any  attempt  at  a  forcible 
recovery  of  the  valuable  province  every  year  more  hopeless ;  but  the 
Mexican  government  yielded  nothing  of  its  claims,  and  the  conse- 
quences of  a  recognition  of  Texan  independence  by  the  United 
States  have  been  already  narrated. 

*  Diacoveren,  &0.,  of  Amerioa. 


i 


I 


■  J       Hi 


■]<    -5 


■■■.X    •■•;^4,•  I 


',J7;  :.!  /.y-iyi^! 


408 


TU£   PEOPLE'S   BOOK   OF   HISTOBY. 


\i. 


ADMINISTRATION  07  JAKES  I.  POLL — ANNEXATION  0^  TEXAS 
— THE  NORTH-WESTERN  BOUNDARY. — DISCOVERT  AND  HIS- 
TORY OF  THE  TERRITORY  OP  OREGON. — T0YA6E  OP  JUAN 
DS    PUCA:     DISCOVERY    OP    THE    COLUMBIA:     TRADING 
ESTABLISHMENTS:  JOURNEY  OP  LEWIS  AND  CLARKE: 
'"    t-ASTORIA:    DESTRUCTION    OP    THE  TONQUIN:    WAR 
WITH   GREAT  BRITAIN:    BOUNDARY  TREATIES: 

SETTLEMENT    OP    THE    COUNTRY.  *;}•>■...' 


In  the  month  of  March,  1845,  James  K.  Polk,  of  Tennessee, 
succeeded  to  the  presidency,  George  M.  Dallas  being  vice-president. 
At  the  congressional  session,  commencing  December  1st,  1845,  vari- 
ous acts  were  passed,  the  influence  of  which  upon  the  future  destinies 
of  the  country  is  incalculable.  Among  the  first  of  these,  was  the 
final  joint  resolution,  by  virtue  of  which  Texas  became  one  of  the 
United  States,  and  the  burden  of  maintaining  her  independence  was 
assumed  by  the  confederacy.  Hostilities  with  Mexico  followed,  con- 
nected with  which,  are  most  matters  of  interest  occurring  throughout 
this  administration.  An  account  of  all  the  material  events  of  the 
war  has  been  already  given,  under  the  title  of  Mexico. 

In  the  summer  of  1846,  the  vexed  question  respecting  conflicting 
claims  of  the  United  States  and  Great  Britain  to  jurisdiction  in  the 
territory  of  Oregon  was  finally  set  at  rest.  The  forty-ninth  parallel 
was  fixed  as  our  northern  boundary,  extending  westward  to  the 
channel  between  Vancouver's  island  and  the  main,  thence  through 
the  straits  of  Fuca  to  the  Pacific.  Free  navigation  of  the  channel 
and  straits,  and  of  the  north  branch  of  the  Columbia  to  the  ocean, 
wa#  secured  to  subjects  or  citizens  of  either  nation. 

xi.  brief  account  of  the  discovery,  settlement,  and  previous  history 
of  this  extensive  and  valuable  territory,  in  the  present  connection, 
may  not  appear  unprofitable  or  out  of  place. 

In  early  times  it  was  commonly  supposed  that  a  free  communica- 
tion existed  between  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific  oceans,  in  latitude  no 
further  north  than  the  northern  limits  of  the  territory  of  Oregon. 
Vague  reports,  corrol)orative  of  this  theory,  were  given  by  nd vent- 
urous niariuei-s,  whom  chunce  or  the  desire  of  explurutiou  threw 


THE  UNITED  STATES. 


i.J. 


m 

upon  the  north-western  coast.  The  most  remarkable  of  these  early 
narratives  is  that  of  Juan  de  Fuca,  a  Cephalonian  pilot,  who  sailed 
under  a  commission  from  the  governor  of  Mexico,  upon  a  northern 
voyage  of  discovery,  in  1592. 

Five  years  previous,  this  celebrated  navigator,  while  on  a  voyage 
from  Manilla  to  the  Spanish  provinces  in  America,  was  captured  near 
the  coast,  by  the  bucaniers  under  Cavendish.  The  vessel  in  which 
he  sailed  was  fired,  but  not  entirely  destroyed,  and  the  crew  were 
set  on  shore  upon  the  peninsula  of  Old  California.  Kegaining  pos- 
session of  their  abandoned  craft,  they  managed  to  refit  her  and  to 
continue  their  voyage,  with  the  loss  of  all  their  effects. 

The  Mexican  governor  took  Juan  de  Fuca  under  his  patronage, 
and  availed  himself  of  his  experience  in  nautical  afifairs,  in  the  pros- 
ecution of  exploration  at  the  north.  The  first  voyage  was  unsuc- 
cessful, nothing  being  seen  of  the  reported  "straits  of  Anian,"  through 
which  it  was  believed  a  passage  might  be  effected  to  the  Atlantic. 
The  second  expedition  is  chronicled  as  follows  by  Purchas,  upon  the 
authority  of  Michael  Lock  the  elder: 

"He  followed  his  course,  in  that  voyage,  west  and  north-west  in 
the  South  Sea,  all  along  the  coast  of  Nova  Spania,  and  California, 
and  the  Indies,  now  called  North  America,  (all  which  voyage  he  sig- 
nified to  me  in  a  great  map,  and  a  sea-card  of  my  own,  which  I  laid 
before  him,)  until  he  came  to  the  latitude  of  forty-seven  degrees; 
and  that  there,  finding  that  the  land  trended  north  and  north-east, 
with  a  broad  inlet  of  sea  between  forty -seven  and  forty-eight  degrees 
of  latitude,  he  entered  thereinto,  sailing  therein  more  than  twenty 
days,  and  found  that  land  trending  still  sometimes  north-west,  and 
north-east,  and  north,  and  also  east  and  south-eastward,  and  very 
much  broader  sea  than  was  at  the  said  entrance,  and  that  he  passed 
by  divers  islands  in  that  sailing;  and  that,  at  the  entrance  of  this 
said  strait,  there  is,  on  the  north-west  coast  thereof,  a  great  head-land 
or  island,  with  an  exceeding  high  pinnacle,  or  spired  rock,  like  a 
pillar,  thereupon.       ';y  ..,    i-io-o.  .:.»..  T 

"  Also  he  said  that  he  went  on  land  in  div6rs  places,  and  that  he 
saw  some  people  on  land,  clad  in  beast's  skins;  and  that  the  land  is 
very  fruitful,  and  rich  of  gold,  silver,  pearls,  and  other  things,  like 
Nova  Spania. 

•'•And  also  he  said  that  he,  being  entered  thus  far  into  the  said 
strait,  and  lieing  eome  into  tho  North  Sea  already,  and  finding  the 
sea  wide  enough  evciy  where,  ami  to  be  about  thirty  or  forty  leagues 


1^ 


410 


THE  r£Oi>L£'S  ^UUK  OF  HISTOKY. 


wide  in  the  mouth  of  the  straits  where  he  entered,  he  thought  he 
had  now  well  discharged  his  ofEue;  and  that,  not  being  armed  to  re- 
sist the  force  of  the  savage  people  that  might  happen,  he  therefore 
set  sail,  and  returned  homewards  again  towards  Nova  Spania^  where 
he  arrived  at  Acapuko,  Anno  1592,  hoping  to  be  rewarded  by  the 
viceroy  for  his  service  done  in  the  said  voyage."* 

The  true  name  of  this  navigator  is  said  to  have  been  Apostolos 
Yalerianos,  but  the  inlet,  of  which,  if  not  the  discoverer,  he  was  the 
first  authentic  explorer,  has  ever  since  borne  his  more  popular  ap- 
pellation. The  straits  of  Juan  de  Fuca  were  not  again  entered  or 
noticed  for  nearly  two  centuries  from  the  time  of  the  Greek  pilot. 
In  1787,  the  account  above  given,  which  had  been  long  discredited, 
was  in  part  corroborated,  and  its  errors  were  pointed  out,  by  the  re- 
port of  Captain  Berkeley,  an  Englishman,  commanding  a  vessel  in 
the  service  of  the  Austrian  East  India  Company. 

Twelve  years  before  this  period,  August  15,  1775,  Bruno  Heceta, 
commander  of  an  exploring  expedition  fitted  out  from  San  Bias,  dis- 
covered the  mouth  of  the  Columbia  river;  but  he  failed  to  notice 
the  entrance  of  the  straits.  Captain  Cook,  during  his  last  voyage, 
in  the  year  1778,  just  previous  to  his  second  and  fatal  visit  to  the 
Sandwich  Islands,  made  an  unsuccessful  examination  of  the  coast,  in 
search  after  the  reported  inlet 

Within  a  few  years  from  this  time  a  valuable  traffic  in  furs,  to  be 
used  in  the  China  trade,  was  opened  with  the  natives  of  the  north- 
west coast  Two  vessels,  the  Felice  and  the  Iphigenia,  sailed  upon 
this  enterprise  from  Macao  in  1788,  under  Portuguese  colours,  but 
subject  to  the  general  management  of  John  Meares,  a  British  lieu- 
tenant Before  the  departure  of  these  vessels  from  the  coast,  the 
Columbia  and  Washington,  fitted  out  at  Boston,  in  the  United  States, 
upon  similar  service,  entered  Nootka  sound.  In  1792,  the  first  of 
these,  under  command  of  Captain  Gray,  passed  up  the  river  discovered 
by  Heceta.  It  has  ever  since  borne  the  name  of  the  vessel,  and  to 
Gray  must  be  ascribed  the  honour  of  being  the  first  to  prove  its  ex- 
istence, aa  this  was  only  conjectured  by  the  first  discoverer,  from  the 
strong  current  setting  out  of  the  bay. 

Conflicting  claims  respecting  exclusive  rights  upon  the  north-west 

coast,  by  virtue  of  discovery  and  occupation,  were  long  maintained 

by  different  European  j)owers;  and  after  the  cession  by  Spain  to  the 

United  States  of  tlie  immense  territory  then  called  Louisiana,  the 

*  Groenhow'it  History  uf  Oregon  oiid  Califoruiu. 


JAMES    /{.    POLK, 
KLEVKNTll    l-l!K.<inKNT   OK  TlIK    IMTEI)   STATJ-^ 


KD  JUNK  16,  1819 


! 


■     ( 

I      ' 


I 


i'4^. 


y^ 


/ 


U" 


•  TlIK   UNITED  STATES. 


411 


latter  power  became  involved  ia  a  similar  controversy  with  Great 
Britain.  During  the  year  subsequent  to  this  event,  1804,  a  party  of 
thirty  or  forty  men,  under  command  of  Captains  Lewis  and  Clarke, 
was  despatched  by  the  United  States'  government  upon  a  journey  of 
overland  exploration  from  the  Mississippi  to  the  Pacific. 

The  adventurers  passed  the  winter  near  the  Mandan  villages,  far 
up  the  Missouri,  and  in  the  spring  of  1805  pursued  their  voyage  up 
the  river  in  canoes  and  "periogues."  Deriving  their  principal  sup- 
port from  the  game  brought  in  by  their  hunters,  they  slowly  worked 
their  way  against  the  curre  t,  and  passed  the  great  falls  or  rapids  of 
the  Missouri  in  the  month  of  July.  At  this  point  they  were  obliged 
to  build  light  canoes  in  which  to  continue  their  voyage.  Entering 
the  Jeflferson  fork,  about  the  close  of  the  month,  they  kept  on  their 
course  until  the  river,  no  longer  navigable,  had  dwindled  to  a  brook, 
and  on  the  12th  of  August  its  utmost  source  was  discovered. 

Passing  the  dividing  ridge,  the  advanced  party  reached  "a  hand- 
some bold  creek  of  clear  cold  water,  running  to  the  westward." 
After  enduring  the  utmost  hardships  in  the  dangerous  passage  of 
the  mountains,  the  travellers  struck  the  Kooskooskee,  and  resumed 
their  journey  by  water.  They  reached  the  mouth  of  the  Columbia 
early  in  November.  Nothing  was  heard  from  the  expedition  until 
its  return  to  St.  Louis  on  the  23d  of  September,  1806.  The  account 
published  by  the  leaders  of  the  ex!pedition  is  replete  with  interest, 
and  marked  by  an  agreeable  simplicity  of  style. 

Great  interest  was  excited  throughout  the  United  States  by  the 
long-expected  report,  and  plans  were  soon  after  set  on  foot  for  the 
formation  of  a  permanent  establishment,  for  trading  purposes,  u[)on 
the  Pacific  coast.  A  company,  st_yled  the  Paoifio  Fur  Company,  was 
formed  under  the  auspices  of  Joiiii  Jacob  Astor,  of  New  York,  in 
1810,  and  ves.sels  were  at  once  fitted  out  upon  the  enterprise.  The 
settlement  of  Astoria  at  Point  George,  on  tlie  south  bank  of  the  Co- 
lumbia, was  commenced  during  the  summer  of  1811.  This  under- 
taking, at  first  prosperous,  resulted  in  misfortune.  The  Tonquin, 
the  first  vessel  sent  out,  while  engaged  in  trade  near  the  straits  of 
Fuca,  was  plundered  by  the  Indians,  and  blown  up.  All  on  l)oard 
perished,  with  the  exception  of  an  Indian  interpreter,  who,  after  a 
captivity  of  two  years,  made  his  way  to  Astoria,  and  gave  the  first 
intelligence  of  the  disaster. 

The  war  between  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States  breaking 
out  at  this  period,  the  resident  partners  of  the  American  Company 


ill 
ISP 


I 


412 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  UISSORY. 


effected  a  sale  of  the  whole  establishment  and  stores  to  the  British 
North-west  Company.  The  occupanta  under  this  transfer  continuea 
to  carrj  on  the  trade  in  furs  after  the  rfiestablishment  of  the  authority 
of  the  United  States  over  that  portion  of  the  north-west  territory. 

"By  the  treaty  of  1818,  the  territories  west  of  the  Rocky  moun- 
tains, claimed  by  the  United  States  or  Great  Britain,  were  to  be 
jointly  occupied  by  citizens  of  either  country,  for  a  period  of  ten 
years.  Upon  the  expiration  of  this  term  (in  1828),  the  arrangement 
was  renewed,  and  indefinitely  extended;  one  year's  notice  to  be 
given  by  either  goyermvent  prior  to  any  futv^  agpertion  of  sole 
sovereignty.  '.    ;.  >,,..,  ...*;  ...,..,!/ 

"As  the  attention  of  the  United  States  became  aroused  by  the 
progress  of  emigration  to  Oregon,  the  necessity  for  some  definitive 
settlement  of  the  boundary  question  began  to  be  universally  felt. 
Subsequent  to.  the  explorations  and  surveys  under  Colonel  Fremont, 
elsewhere  narrated,  great  numbers  of  settlers,  during  the  summers  of 
1843  and  1844,  pursued  the  overland  route,  and  settled  in  the  Wil- 
lamet  valley.  The  number  of  American  emigrants  in  Oregon  nt  the 
close  of  the  latter  year,  is  computed  at  more  than  three  thousand, 
and  great  sympathy  was  felt  for  them  throughout  the  Union,  in  con- 
sideration of  the  hardships  they  had  endured,  and  the  uncertainty 
of  their  position  while  the  right  of  jurisdiction  over  the  country  re- 
mained unsettled."* 

After  the  final  settlement  of  the  boundary  question,  in  1846,  as 
before  mentioned,  emigration  received  a  new  impetus.  Although 
lying  in  a  high  latitude,  the  climate  of  the  territory  of  Oregon  is  by 
no  means  severe.  Owing  to  its  situation  upon  the  western  shore  of 
a  large  continent,  like  the  countries  of  western  Europe,  it  is  subject 
to  no  such  extremes  of  temperature  as  those  felt  in  the  New  England 
statea  The  soil  is  extremely  fertile,  and  the  surface  of  the  country 
is  beautifully  diversified  with  mountains,  plains,  hills,  and  streams. 
The  population,  as  exhibited  in  the  census  returns  of  1850,  numbered 
thirteen  thousand  three  hundred  and  twenty-three.  . .  , , 


*  DiMOverert,  &c.,  of  Anwrica. 


i.i<,.»l    ji 


I     ,.'. 


t  ■l!       |i«', 


,.    1. 1 


■■  t.,   •'  ■ 


•'     Hi    >.    f.'  -i:'  iit'Jii  .    c'l'u    •'    '.:;-'   T'    .•'■ 


■'I  "i..'^ 


7  THE  UNITED   STATES.        i  u  r 


.( 


JtMStt]   .;f  'U"*". 


.  .•t.iJjT;!  '•'■\'.\    irt 


CHAPTEH  XX. 


-  _,    ,  ,1    ..,.  ,      ;,,,... I i J' Ij I     i„,«    jW 

ALTERATION  IN  THE  TARIFF.-^AtQTI'gf itOV  6*  C A tIFORNIA: 
XARLT  HI8T0RT  OF  THAT  PROVINCE:  THE  JESUIT  MISSIONS 
IN    THE    PENIN8UIA:    THE    DOMINICANS. — UPPER    CALI- 
FORNIA:   THE  FRANCISCAN  MISSIONARY  ESTABLISH 
MSNT:  THE  MEXICAN  REVOLUTION:  ATTEMPTS 
'4'  \  A-T  COLONIZATION. 


'.; :  •  )j  ^v'J.'; 


A  LiTTLk  before  the  close  of  the  session  of  congress,  in  the  summer 
of  1846,  the  views  of  the  political  party  then  in  the  ascendency, 
respecting  duties  on  importations,  were  carried  out  by  revision  and 
alteration  of  the  tariff  of  1842.  Material  reduction  was  made  in 
the  protective  duties  established  by  the  former  bill. 

Upon  the  conclusion  of  peace  with  Mexico,  the  acquisition  of 
California  gave  a  new  direction  to  speculative  enterprise  throughout 
the  Unions— especially  at  the  extreme  west  and  upon  the  sea-boiu-d. 
The  existence  of  a  gold  deposit  in  the  bed  of  the  American  fork  of 
the  Sacramento,  was  first  discovered  in  the  spring  of  1848.  "From 
this  period  every  thing  connected  with  the  California  settlements 
took  a  new  aspect  The  villages  which  had  sprung  up  since  the 
acquisition  of  the  country  by  the  United  States,  were  mostly  de- 
serted; the  crops  were  left  ungathered;  the  crews  of  the  vessels 
lying  in  port  deserted;  labour  could  be  procured  only  at  the  most 
exorbitant  prices ;  in  short,  nearly  the  whole  male  population  had 
hurried  to  the  mines,  and,  regardless  of  hardship,  fatigue,  exposure, 
and  sickness,  were  engaged  in  the  all-absorbing  pursuit  of  gold." 

An  unexampled  increase  of  population,  within  the  short  period 
of  two  years,  converted  a  wilderness,  uninhabited  save  by  roving  sav- 
ages and  the  occupants  of  a  few  small  towns  or  trading-posts,  into 
an  important  and  prosperous  state.  The  history  of  its  settlement  is 
more  like  a  tale  of  romance  than  a  record  of  realities. 

Throughout  the  continuance  of  Spanish  or  Mexican  dominion  over 
the  Californias,  those  provinces  were  looked  upon  as  of  little  im- 
portance, and  chiefly  interesting  as  a  field  for  missionary  enterprise. 
The  peninsula  of  Old  Californiu  was  discovered,  in  1.534,  by  Grijalva, 
suilin''  upon  a  voyage  of  discovery  under  commission  from  Cortcz. 


414 


TU£  PKUI'LE'S   BOOK  OF  UI8T0BY. 


The  gulf  which  separates  it  from  the  main  was  soon  after  explored, 
and  at  different  times  unsuccessful  attempts  were  made  to  plant  col- 
onies at  several  locations.  The  peninsula  was  barren  and  mountain- 
ous, and  nothing  was  imagined  of  the  undeveloped  wealth  and 
resources  of  the  country  farther  north. 

In  California,  as  in  many  other  portions  of  America,  the  pioneers 
of  settlement  and  civilization  were  the  fraternity  of  Jesuits.  These 
inde&tigable  propagandists  of  the  faith  commenced  operations  upon 
either  shore  of  the  Oulf  of  California,  towards  the  close  of  the  sev- 
enteenth century.  Upon  the  main,  a  settlement  was  founded  by  the 
learned  and  zealous  Father  Kiihn — before  his  departure  for  America 
a  professor  of  mathematics  at  Ingoldstadt  Father  Salvatierra,  also 
a  member  of  the  order,  at  the  same  time  established  the  missionary 
station  of  Loreto  at  the  bay  of  San  Dionisio,  upon  the  peninsula. 
He  took  with  him  six  soldiers  as  a  slight  protection  against  attack 
on  the  part  of  the  natives. 

The  Indians  had  little  reason  to  look  with  favour  upon  any  further 
encroachment  upon  their  territory.  For  a  long  period  the  coast  had 
seldom  been  visited,  except  by  those  engaged  in  the  pearl  fishery,  in 
the  pursuit  of  which  occupation  it  had  been  the  common  custom  to 
compel  the  service  o^the  natives,  great  numbers  of  whom  had  per- 
ished in  this  dangerous  avocation.  Sulvatierra  and  his  associates  in 
the  missionary  work  made  great  and  finally  successful  exertions  to 
procure  from  the  home  government  the  enactment  of  laws  for  the 
protection  of  their  adopted  people  from  this  species  of  slavery. 

At  San  Dionisio  a  chapel  was  erected  to  "Our  Lady  of  Loreto," 
and  the  good  father  made  use  of  all  means  in  his  power  to  excite  the 
interest,  arouse  the  curiosity,  and  conciliate  the  good-will  of  his  an- 
ticipated proselytes.  He  met  at  first  with  very  unfavourable  returns: 
the  Indians,  after  plundering  him  of  his  horse  and  goats,  finally  col- 
lected in  force,  and  attempted  the, destruction  of  the  establishment. 
They  were  driven  off  by  the  fire-arms  of  the  soldiers. 

The  efforts  of  Salvatierra  and  Kuhn  were  worthily  seconded  by 
Fhthers  Ugarte  and  Francisco  Piccolo.  The  latter,  in  the  autumn  of 
1699,  two  years  from  the  formation  of  the  first  Jesuit  settlement, 
founded  the  mission  of  San  Xavier,  on  tho  Pacific  coast  Prom  this 
station,  as  well  as  that  at  San  Dionisio,  the  missionaries  extended 
ttieir  operations  among  the  natives  by  making  long  journeys  on 
horseback  througiiout  a  great  extent  of  the  peninsula,  acquainting 
tlunist'lves  with  the  resources  and  geography  of  the  country,  preach- 


)T 


le 


)1- 

it. 


It, 

lis 
ed 


THE   UNITED   BTATK8. 


416 


ing  to  the  Indians  in  th-ir  own  language,  and  endeavouring  by  every 
means  to  gain  their  coiuidci  ce  and  guod-will. 

Ugarto  oaine  over  from  Mexico  in  1701.  "He  took  up  hia  aboil« 
with  the  Indians,  with>/al  a  Bingle  coinpaiiion,  among  the  mouiiuina 
BOUth-wcM  of  Loreto,  and,  by  the  force  of  exaiuf'lo  and  reward^s 
stimulated  his  wild  associatea  t. .  shake  off  their  natural  Hloth,  and 
aid  him  in  erecting  dwellings  and  a  chapel  for  public  worship.  He 
f  was  of  a  robust  frame  and  hardy  constitution,  and  was  always  fore- 
most to  undertake  the  labour  and  drudgery  attendant  upoi.  the  form- 
ation of  the  settlement.  His  greatest  trouble,  at  first,  was  from  an 
unconquerable  tendency  on  the  part  of  his  auditors  to  juor  and  laugh 
at  his  religious  exercises,  but  the  infliction  of  nummary  chastisement 
upon  the  strongest  and  most  contumacious  among  them,  speedily 
quelled  their  levity. 

"This  excellent  and  energetic  ecclesiastic  did  no^c^^nfine  himself 
to  a  care  for  the  souls  of  his  flock;  he  taught  them  the  cultivation 
of  the  soil;  he  introduced  the  domestic  animals  of  Eurc  .)e;  and  even 
brought  over  a  weaver  to  teach  the  arts  of  spinning  and  n  anufacturing 
the  wool  obtained  from  his  sheep.  Slowly  but  steadily  the  missions 
continued  to  prosper;  the  fickle-minded  aborigines  wt  re  subdued 
and  restrained  by  force  or  kindness  as  occasion  require  I;  and  tlu' 
general  tenor  of  the  lives  of  those  engaged  in  the  work  of  the  mia- 
sions,  gave  evidence  that  their  motives  were  pure,  and  that  they  had 
the  interests  of  their  proselytes  at  heart."* 

The  difliculties  encountered  by  these  pioneers  of  civilization  were 
increased  by  the  conduct  of  too  many  of  those  who  acco  npanied 
them  from  Mexico,  or  who  afterwards  came  over  to  engage  in  secular 
employment  at  the  stations.  "The  land  was  so  barren,"  say  Green- 
how,  "  that  it  scarcely  yielded  the  means  of  sustaining  life  to  the 
most  industrious  agriculturalist,  for  which  reason  the  sett,  ^ments 
were  all  located  near  the  sea,  in  order  that  the  necessary  food  might 
be  procured  by  fishing;  and  the  persons  employed  in  thtir  (<■  rvice, 
being  drawn  from  the  most  miserable  classes  in  Mexico,  were :;  ways 
indolent  and  insubordinate,  and  generally  preferred  loitering  (  i  the 
shore,  in  search  of  pearls,  to  engaging  in  the  regular  labours  req  iired 
for  the  support  of  settlers  in  a  new  region." 

The  grand  order  of  the  .lesuits  having  gradually  fallen  into  sus- 
picion with  the  great  powers  of  Kurope,  its  members  were  subjc  ted 
to  j)er8ecution   and  banishment  in  the  territories,  successively   of 

•  DitcoveriTK,  &e.,  of  America. 

Vol.  IY.—5F, 


I 


I 


lil 


416 


THE   I'EOI'LE'S    BOOK   OF   HI8T0KY. 


Portugal,  France,  and  Spain.  In  the  year  1767,  they  were  expelled 
from  California,  and  the  country  becoming  a  Mexican  province,  the 
missionaries  were  superseded  by  Franciscans,  and  the  civil  authority 
of  Mexico  was  extended  over  the  settlements.  The  missionary  sta- 
tions on  the  peninsula  were,  at  this  time,  sixteen  in  number.  Domin- 
ican friars  took  the  place  of  the  Jesuits,  and,  pursuing  a  far  diifereiit 
policy  towards  the  natives  from  that  carried  out  by  their  predeces- 
sors, soon  destroyed  the  confidence  of  the  inhabitants,  and  frustrated 
the  plans  for  their  improvement,  before  so  promising.  The  Indians 
of  Old  California  are,  at  the  present  day,  few  in  number,  and  still  in 
the  condition  of  the  savage. 

Turning  their  attention  from  the  barren  mountains  of  the  penin- 
sula to  the  extensive  and  fertile  region  of  Upper  or  New  California, 
the  Franciscans,  with  the  aid  and  countenance  of  the  Marquis  de 
Croix,  viceroy  gf  Mexico,  founded  a  settlement  at  San  Diego,  in 
1769.  From  this  station,  a  party  was  shortly  after  sent  to  explftre 
and  take  formal  possession  of  the  country  further  north.  They 
proceeded  by  land  as  far  as  the  harbour  of  San  Francisco,  upon 
which  they  bestowed  its  present  appellation,  and  returned  to  make 
report  at  San  Diego,  in  January  of  the  following  year. 

This  exploring  party  had  been  specially  commissioned  to  estal)lish 
a  settlement  upon  the  bay  of  Monterey,  but  upon  the  journey  they 
failed  to  recognise  that  locality  from  its  description  by  early  voy- 
agers. A  few  months  subsequent  to  their  return,  the  service  was 
accomplished  by  another  expedition,  under  direction  of  Father 
Juniporo  Serra.  A  portion  of  the  adventurers  proceeded  by  soa 
the  voyage — from  San  Diego  to  Monterey— occupying  no  less  than 
forty-six  days;  another  party  made  the  jour  :ey  in  a  less  space  of 
time,  by  land,  and  were  found  by  the  voyagers,  engaged  in  buildinir 
and  other  preparations  for  a  settlement.  "On  the  31st  of  >rav," 
says  Serra,  "by  the  favour  of  God,  after  rather  a  painful  voyage  of 
a  month  and  a  half,  the  packet  San  Antonio,  commanded  by  Don 
Juan  Perez,  arrived  and  anchored  in  this  horrible  port  of  Monte  rev, 
which  is  unaltered  in  any  degree  from  what  it  was  when  visited  by 
the  expedition  of  Don  Sebastian  Viscayno,  in  the  year  1608." 

The  missions  in  Upper  California  received  special  patronage  from 
the  Spanish  crown,  and  a  large  fund  was  raised  for  their  support,  iii 
Mexico,  by  voluntary  contributions  of  the  pious.  Many  valnaljlo 
legacies  were  also  funded  for  this  purpose,  and  the  temporal  affairs 
of  the  enterprise  were,  for  a  series  of  years,  in  a  i)rosperous  coiitli- 


THE  UNITED  STATES. 


417 


tion.  The  spiritual  progresa  of  the  Indians  was,  however,  by  no 
means  in  conformity  with  the  great  apparent  success  of  the  missions. 
The  influence  and  authority  of  the  ecclesiastics  was  established 
throughout  the  line  of  coast — their  headquarters  being  at  San 
Diego,  Monterey,  San  Francisco,  and  San  Gabriel — but  their  influ- 
ence appears  to  have  availed  little  towards  the  actual  improvement 
or  civilization  of  the  natives.  The  church  acquired  extensive  titles 
to  the  more  valuable  lands,  and,  instead  of  favouring  the  immigra- 
tion of  whites,  threw  obstacles  in  the  way  of  colonization  by  civil- 
ians. The  clergy,  content  with  a  nominal  or  outward  compliance 
with  the  forms  of  their  church,  preferred  to  retain  their  undivided 
supremacy  over  the  natives,  and  feared  the  consequence  of  the 
introduction  of  free  settlers. 

They  did  not  attain  this  commanding  position  without  first  en- 
during great  hardships  and  suffering,  and  exposing  themselves  to 
continual  personal  danger.  Their  property,  in  the  early  days  of 
the  missions,  was  pilfered  by  the  natives  on  every  occasion,  and,  from 
time  to  time,  they  were  forced  to  resort  to  the  "secular  arm"  in 
defending  their  lives  against  hostile  attacks.  Upon  one  occasion,  a 
large  body  of  Indians  fell  upon  the  settlement  at  San  Diego,  and, 
after  a  hard  struggle,  were  driven  off  by  the  handfUl  of  whites  there 
in  occupation.  They  shortly  after  sued  for  peace,  and  begged  the 
Spanish  surgeon  to  visit  and  assist  those  of  their  number  who  had 
been  wounded  in  the  conflict.  This  aid  was  cheerfully  and  readily 
afforded. 

Upon  the  general  overthrow  of  the  old  order  of  things,  at  the 
period  of  the  Mexican  revolution,  the  privileges  and  powers  of  the 
Californian  hierarchy  were  curtailed,  and  its  resources  in  Mexico 
cut  off  by  sequestration  of  the  sums  appropriated  for  the  salaries  of 
the  priesthood.  Measures  were  also  taken  to  effect  an  emancipation 
of  the  natives,  but  so  completely  incompetent  did  they  appear  to 
the  management  of  property,  and  so  much  disposed  to  return  to  the 
savage  life  of  their  forefathers,  that  it  was  judged  expedient,  for  the 
time,  to  allow  matters  to  continue  much  in  their  old  position.  The 
church  in  California  was,  at  this  period,  so  amply  endowed  by 
monopolies,  and  the  acquisition  of  reul  estate,  that  it  was  no  longer 
dependent  upon  supplies  from  abroad. 

A  movement  was  afterwards  set  on  foot  in  Mexico,  for  the  fur- 
therance of  colonization  in  California  by  the  entire  removal  of  the 
rnisj^ionaries,  and  a  sequestration  of  their  lands  and  effects.    A  law 


i 


*^> 


413 


TU£  PEOPLE'S   BOOK   OF   IIISTOBY. 


was  actually  passed  for  this  purpose,  in  the  Mexican  congress,  and 
great  numbers  of  emigrants,  allured  by  the  favourable  oflFers  of  govern- 
ment, were  soon  en  route  for  the  land  of  promise.  All  their  expecta- 
tions failed  upon  the  attainment  of  Santa  Anna  to  political  supremacy. 
His  regard  for  the  interests  of  the  church,  or  his  policy  of  securing 
the  favour  of  so  powerful  a  portion  of  the  community,  induced  him 
to  take  immediate  steps  for  the  protection  of  the  property  and  priv- 
ileges of  the  Californian  priesthood,  and,  in  consequence,  to  check 
the  progress  of  imiiigration. 


CXTADT'TJ''D      '7''7'T 
XiLiiirXJjXi     lAiAX. 


EXPLORATION    OP     NEW    CALIFORNIA;     COLONEL     PREMONT  ; 

SURVEY  OF   THE  SOUTH    PASS:    OYKRLAND    EXPEDITION    0? 

1843-4:    THE  GREAT  SALT  LAKE:   RETURN   ROUTE:  TERRIBLE 

PASSAGE  OFTHE  SIERRA  NEVADA:   CAPTAIN  SUTTER'S 

SBTTLRMBNT:  SUBSEQUENT  EX  PEDITIONS  OP  FREMONT. 

—  THE    GOLD    DISCOVERIES    IN    CALIFORNIA. 


The  adventurous  expedition  of  I^ewis  and  Clarke  first  gave  to  the 
world  any  satisfactory  account  of  the  character  of  the  wilderness 
intervening  between  the  western  settlements  of  the  United  Stiites  and 
the  Pacific  sea-board.  Before  the  accompllHhment  of  their  remarka- 
ble journey,  all  that  was  known  of  that  territory  was  gathered  from 
the  Indians,  and  from  the  white  traders,  or  trappers,  who  had  pene- 
trated the  country  in  difierent  directions,  and  at  different  times. 

A  long  interval  elapsed  between  this  first  achievement  and  the 
undertaking  of  any  systematic  survey  of  a  practicable  route  for  emi- 
grants. In  1842,  the  services  of  the  Hon.  John  Charles  Fremont, 
who  was  at  that  time'  commissioned  as  a  lieutenant  in  the  United 
States'  corps  of  topographical  engineers,  were  called  into  requisition 
for  this  purpose.  lie  had  been  previously  etigagod  in  the  pro-seou- 
tion  of  surveys  in  the  north-western  territory,  and  his  instructions, 
at  the  time  of  which  we  are  now  speaking,  were  to  make  an  exam- 
ination of  the  eonntrv,  and  toteport  upon  an  advi.sable  route  irom 
the  frontier  settlements  of  Missouri  to  the  Great  South  Pass— then 


y 


.r'm,m  ■ ,  .-.^..MxmiK&iU   n 


iiiwiiaiiiaiiiMi iifiiiMMWwi'MWi 


f^Msm^9:P 


OKOROE    111.    JtXD    HIS    MIXIST  F.  rt  i. 


>.<^& 


^r      ^SK.-' 


i**ii..«i'iiiiiiiiiMii>i  ]<ininii 


lijttii 


w-f 


"W 


»'  'A. 


r-  -- 


THE   UNITED   STATES. 


419 


considered  the  most  practicable,  if  not  the  only  available  passage 
through  the  Rocky  mountains. 

With  a  company  of  twenty-five  men,  principally  Canadian  or 
Creole  voyageurs,  under  the  guidance  of  Christopher  Carson — then 
familiarly  and  extensively  known  at  the  west,  and  now  of  world- 
wide celebrity,  as  "Kit  Carson" — Fremont  took  his  departure  from 
a  post  a  few  miles  above  the  mouth  of  the  Kansas  river,  on  the 
10th  of  June.  The  party  was  provided  with  eight  carts,  drawn  by 
mules,  for  the  transportation  of  camp-equipage,  surveying  instru- 
ments, &c.,  and  four  oxen  were  taken  for  provision.  The  men  were 
all  mounted,  and  well  provided  with  arms. 

The  line  of  march  lay  north-westerly  from  the  Kansae  to  the 
Platte,  a  distance  exceeding  three  hundred  miles,  which  was  trav- 
ersed in  sixteen  days.  Following  the  course  of  the  South  Fork, 
the  party  reached  Fort  St  Vrain,  at  the  eastern  foot  of  the  Rocky 
mountains,  on  the  10th  of  July,  one  month  from  the  day  of  depart- 
ure. They  arrived  at  the  South  Pass  near  the  middle  of  August, 
and  entered  at  once  upon  the  principal  business  of  the  expedition. 
By  accurate  astronomical  observations,  the  true  position  of  this 
important  passage  was  laid  down;  scientific  investigations  of  the 
geological  formation  of  the  country  were  made ;  and  a  correct  sur- 
vey of  the  whole  locality  was  carefully  prepared.  The  information 
brought  back  by  the  expedition,  and  widely  disseminated  through 
the  press,  by  act  of  congress,  was  of  inestimable  value  to  those 
embarking  upon  the  adventure  of  overland  emigration  to  the  shores 


of  the  Pacific. 


The  exploring  expedition,  under  Commander  Wilkes,  returned, 
as  before  mentioned,  in  the  month  of  June  (1842).  In  addition  to 
an  accurate  survey  of  the  north-western  coast,  expeditions  inland 
had  been  undertaken  by  those  connected  with  the  enterprise,  both 
in  Oregon  and  California;  and  it  was  considered  desirable  to  connect 
the  results  of  these  observations  with  those  established  by  the  ex- 
ploration of  the  South  Pass.  Colonel  Fremont  was  again  commis- 
sioned by  government  as  commander  of  the  expedition  proposed. 

The  Great  South  Pass  lies  immediately  in  the  direct  line  of  travel 
from  Missouri  to  the  Columbia  river;  but  it  was  hoped  that  a  route 
might  be  opened  further  south,  which  would  present  less  formid- 
able obstacles  as  a  general  thoroughfare.  The  party  collected  for 
this  service  consisted,  in  all,  of  forty  men,  numbers  of  whom  had 
shareil  with  Fremont  the  fatigues  and  hardsiiips  of  the  preceding 


i 


r 


tl20 


TliK   l'£urL£'S   BUUK  OF  IIlSTUliY. 


year.  They  sut  uut  upoD  their  perilous  juurney  on  the  29th  of 
May,  1843. 

"  A  detour  through  the  mountains  brought  them  upon  the  waters 
of  the  Bear  river,  which  they  followed  to  its  debouchement  into  the 
Great  Salt  Lake.  In  a  frail  boat  of  inflated  India-rubber  cloth,  a 
partial  survey  was  effected  of  this  remarkable  phenomenon  of  nature, 
concerning  which  the  only  knowledge  before  obtained  had  been 
from  the  wild  reports  of  the  Indians,  and  hunters  who  had  occa- 
sionally visited  it  Little  did  the  adventurous  explorers  dream  of 
the  change  that  a  few  years  would  bring  about  upon  those  remote 
and  desolate  i>hores.  The  party  left  their  camp  by  the  lake  on  the 
12th  of  September,  and,  proceeding  northward,  reached  the  plains 
of  the  Columbia  on  the  18th,  '  in  sight  of  the  famous  Three  Buttes, 
a  well-known  land-mark  in  the  country,  distant  about  forty-five  miles.' 

"In  the  month  of  November,  having  reached  Fort  VuDcouver, 
and  fully  accomplished  the  duties  assigned  him.  Colonel  I<>emoDt 
set  out  on  his  return  by  a  new  and  dangerous  route.  Nothing  but 
a  perusal  of  the  journal  of  the  expedition  can  convey  an  adequate 
idea  of  the  dangers  and  difficulties  attendant  upon  the  remainder 
of  this  enterprise,  in  which  the  ootnplete  circuit  was  made  of  that 
immense  and  unexplored  basin  lying  between  the  Sierra  Nevada 
an(  the  Wahsatch,  or  Bear  river  range  of  th»>  Hooky  mountains;  a 
region  thus  laid  down  in  Fremont's  chart:  'The  Gr'^at  Basin:  diam- 
eter 11'^  of  latitude:  elevation  above  the  sea,  between  four  and  five 
thousand  feet:  surrounded  by  lofty  mountains:  contents  al.noost 
unknown,  but  believed  to  be  filled  with  rivers  and  lakes  which 
have  no  communication  with  the  sea,  deserts  and  oases  which  have 
never  been  explored,  and  savage  tribes  which  no  traveller  has  seen 
or  described.'" 

This  journey  of  more  than  three  thousand  miles,  through  a  wilder- 
ness inhabited  only  by  roving  Indians,  and  in  the  face  of  the  most 
appalling  natural  obstacles,  called  forth  the  exercise  of  heroism, 
fortitude,  and  bc4ily  endurance,  of  which  few  men  would  be  found 
capable.  The  passage  of  the  Sierra  Nevada,  which  occupied  several 
weeks  at  the  close  of  the  winter  and  in  the  early  spring,  was  the 
most  dangerous  and  trying  achievement  of  this  unparalleled  march. 
In  the  midst  of  snow  and  ice,  pushing  their  way  by  an  unknown 
route  through  stupendous  mountains,  in  uncertainty  as  to  the  for* 
tunes  of  each  succeeding  day,  and  suffering  the  extremes  of  desti- 
tution and  exposure,  the  hardy  adventurers  pressed  forward  with 


f] 


i 


THE    UNITED   8TATK8. 


421 


invincible  courage  and  resolution.  Tl»c  (IchIi  of  their  mules  uiid 
horses  was  their  only  resort  for  subsistence,  and  these  unimuls  were 
reducod  to  a  miserable  condition  from  the  impossibility  of  procuring 
any  tHhor  food  than  a  little  dried  and  frost-bitten  herbage,  here  and 
there  i-xposed.  ':  /  •  ;i  !  .-c!  !.,  t?  ,tl  .i  .1/ 'i,  ;'  "•  ■  ':  • .» 

When  they  had  at  last  succeBsftiny  passed  the  mountain  range,  and, 
following  the  course  of  the  Rio  de  los  Americanos,  from  its  southern 
sources  toward  the  Sacramento,  had  reached  a  more  hospitable 
region,  it  was  found  that  two  of  the  party  were  labouring  under  an 
aberration  of  mind,  from  the  clTects  of  anxiety  and  hardship.     "One 
of  them,  Deroflier,  who  had  stayed  behind  for  the  purpose  of  bring- 
ing up  a  favourite  horse  of  Colonel  Fremont,  on  rfijoining  the  party, 
in  the  words  of  the  narrative,  'came  in,  and  sitting  down  by  the  fire, 
began  to  tell  us  where  he  had  been.    He  imagined  he  hod  been 
gone  several  days,  and  thought  we  were  still  at  the  camp  where  he 
had  lofl  us ;  'and  we  were  pained  to  see  that  his  mind  was  deranged. 
*        *        Times  were  severe  when  stout  men  lost  their  minds 
from  extremity  of  suffering — when  horses  died — and  when  mules 
and  horses,  ready  to  die  of  starvation,  were  killed  for  food.    Yet 
there  was  no  murmuring  or  hesitation.'" 

On  the  6th  of  March,  the  advance  party  arrived  at  the  Indian 
settlements,  a  few  miles  from  the  confluence  of  the  American  fork 
with  the  Sacramento,  and  had  the  satisfaction  of  learning  their 
position  from  an  Indian  cow-herd  in  the  employment  of  Captain 
Sutter.  At  the  establishment  of  this  enterprising  pioneer  of  the 
American  Californian  settlements — known  as  Sutter's  fort — the 
party  was  hospitably  received  and  entertained. 

"Captain  Sutter  emigrated  to  this  country  from  the  western  part 
of  Missouri,  in  1838-9,  and  formed  the  first  settlement  in  the  valley, 
on  a  large  grant  of  land  which  he  obtained  from  the  Mexican  gov- 
ernment He  had,  at  first,  some  trouble  with  the  Indians ;  but,  by 
the  occasional  exercise  of  well-timed  authority,  he  has  succeeded  in 
converting  them  into  a  peaceable  and  industrious  people.  The 
ditches  around  his  extensive  wheat-fields;  the  making  of  the  sun- 
dried  bricks,  of  which  his  fort  is  constructed;  the  ploughing,  har- 
rowing, and  other  agricultural  operations,  are  entirely  the  work  of 
these  Indians,  for  which  they  receive  a  very  moderate  compensation 
— principally  in  shirts,  blankets,  and  other  articles  of  clothing."* 

At  the  fort,  was  a  garrison  of  forty  Indians ;  and  about  thirty  white 

*  Fremont's  Narrative. 


I 


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422 


THE    PEOPLE'S    BOOK    OF   II18T0BY. 


men,  of  various  trades  and  occupations,  were  in  Sutter's  employment. 
Immense  fields  of  grain,  numerous  work-shops,  and  vessels  lying  in 
the  river,  attested  the  wealth  and  enterprise  of  the  proprietor. 

Fremont  and  his  company  took  their  departure  from  this  vicinity 
on  the  24th  of  March,  and  reached  the  village  of  Kanzas,  on  the 
Missouri,  on  the  Slst  of  July,  1844. 

Upon  his  second  overland  expedition  to  the  Pacific,  undertaken 
in  1845,  while  engaged,  in  accordance  with  his  instructions,  in  sci- 
entific exploration.  Colonel  Fremont  received  intelligence  of  the 
existence  of  war  between  Mexico  and  the  United  States.  He  imme- 
diately enlisted  a  mounted  force,  and,  commencing  active  military 
operations,  met  with  distinguished  success.  The  difficulties  in  which 
he  became  involved,  in  consequence  of  conflicting  claims  of  his 
superiors,  have  been  before  alluded  to. 

At  a  still  later  period,  his  restless  spirit  of  enterprise  induced  him 
to  undertake  a  private  adventure  for  the  discovery  of  a  southern 
and  more  direct  land-route  to  California.  For  this  purpose,  he  col- 
lected a  company  of  about  thirty  men,  and,  provided  with  more  than 
one  hundred  mules,  commenced  his  journey  westward.  The  incle- 
mency of  the  season  proved  disastrous.  Upon  the  Sierra  San  Juan, 
being  overtaken  by  snow-storms  and  severe  weather,  the  party  lost 
their  entire  stock  of  mules,  and  many  of  their  number  perished  from 
cold  and  starvation  before  their  indomitable  leader  could  procure 
them  aid  and  sustenance.  He  proceeded  on  foot  to  Santa  Fe,  where 
he  met  with  ready  assistance.  With  renewed  outfit,  he  pcrsever- 
ingly  accomplished  the  purpose  of  the  expedition,  and  made  his  way, 
by  the  southern  route,  to  the  Californian  settlements. 

Almost  simultaneously  with  the  cession  of  California  to  the  United 
States,  by  virtue  of  the  treaty  concluded  at  Guadalupe  Hidalgo, 
occurred  the  astonishing  developments  of  unexpected  mineral  wealth 
in  the  new  territory.  "That  the.se  treasures  should  have  remained 
so  long  concealed  from  the  occupants  of  the  territory  seems  unac- 
countable, when  we  consider  the  proverbial  keenness  Of  the  Spaniard 
in  the  search  for  native  gold,  and  the  experience  acquired  by  cen- 
turies of  practical  operations  in  the  mines  of  Mexico  and  Peru.  The 
fact  only  proves  how  completely  the  country  was  neglected  by  the 
more  enterprising  and  efficient  portion  of  the  community. 

"The  first  discovery  of  gold  in  California,  in  sufficient  -^uantity 
to  excite  public  attention,  was  made  in  the  spring  of  1848,  hv  Mr. 
James  Nfarshall,  who  had  been  employed  by  Ciiptiiin  .lolni  \.  Sut- 


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THE   UNITED   STATES. 


423 


ler  to  erect  a  saw-mill  upon  the  south  branch  of  the  Rio  de  los 
Americanos,  or  American  fork,  a  tributary  of  the  Sacramento,  flow- 
ing from  the  eastward.  The  location  of  the  mill  was  about  fifty 
miles  from  New  Helvetia,  or  Sutter's  fort. 

"One  of  the  earliest  authentic  reports  of  the  commencement  and 
progress  of  the  mining  enterprise,  is  a  letter  of  Colonel  R,  B.  Mason, 
governor  of  California,  to  the  adjutant-general,  at  Washington,  dated 
August,  1848.  In  describing  bis  first  visit  to  the  diggings,  he  says: 
*  As  we  ascended  the  south  branch  of  the  American  fork,  the  country 
became  more  broken  and  mountainous,  and  at  the  saw-mills,  twenty- 
five  miles  below  Sutter's,  the  hills  rise  to  about  a  thousand  feet 
above  the  level  of  the  Sacramento  plain.  Here  a  species  of  pino 
occurs,  which  led  to  the  discovery  of  the  gold. 

"'Captain  Sutter,  feeling  the  great  want  of  lumber,  contracted, 
in  September  last,  with  a  Mr.  Marshall,  to  build  a  saw-mill  at  that 
place.  It  was  erected  in  the  course  of  the  last  winter  and  spring — 
a  dam  and  race  constructed;  but  vhen  the  water  was  let  on  the 
wheel,  the  tail-race  was  found  too  narrow  to  allow  the  water  to  escape 
with  sufficient  rapidity.  Mr.  Marshall,  to  save  labour,  let  the  water 
directly  into  the  race  with  a  strong  current,  so  as  to  wash  it  wider 
and  deeper.  He  effected  his  purpose,  and  a  large  bed  of  mud  and 
gravel  was  carried  to  the  foot  of  the  race.  One  day,  as  Mr.  Marshall 
was  walking  down  the  race  to  the  deposit  of  mud,  he  observed  some 
glittering  particles  at  its  upper  edge;  he  gathered  a  few,  examined 
them,  and  became  satisfied  of  their  value.  He  then  went  to  the  fort, 
told  Captain  Sutter  of  his  discovery,  and  they  agreed  to  keep  it 
secret  until  a  certain  grist-mill  of  Sutter's  was  finished.  It,  however, 
got  out,  and  spread  like  magic. 

"  *  Remarkable  success  attended  the  labours  of  the  first  explorers, 
and,  in  a  few  weeks,  hundreds  of  men  were  drawn  thither.  At  the 
time  of  my  first  visit,  but  little  more  than  three  months  after  its  first 
discovery,  it  was  estimated  that  upwards  of  four  thousand  people 
were  employed.' " 

In  this  exciting  pursuit  the  utmost  improvidence  was  exhibited, 
and  the  necessary  consequence  was  a  sudden  and  unprecedented  ad- 
vance in  the  prices  of  all  articles  of  common  necessity.  Upon  the 
first  intelligence  of  the  position  of  affairs  in  California,  received  in 
the  states,  speculators  entered  eagerly  into  the  business  of  shipping 
thither  supplies  of  clothing,  provisions,  &c.  Before  these  stores 
could  re;icli  their  place  of  destination,  by  the  circuitous  route  of  Capo 


jj 
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42rt 


THE   PEOPLE'S   BOOK   OF   HI8T0KY. 


Ilorn,  muc'.  r  al  destitution  was  felt,  and,  although  the  yield  of  the 
washings  was  exceedingly  rich,  the  chief  profits  of  the  mining  oper- 
ations were  appropriated  by  those  who  were  enabled  to  cater,  at  the 
most  exorbitant  and  fabulous  rates,  for  the  physical  wants  of  the 
labourers  at  the  mines.  ''  '  i      !'?  ■  ' 

The  cargoes  which  first  arrived  at  San  Francisco  yielded  enormous 
returns ;  but  in  some  articles  the  market  was  speedily  overstocked, 
and  heavy  losses  were  sustained  by  those  whose  adventures  failed  to 
correspond  with  the  demand.  One  cause  of  great  embarrassment  to 
ship-owners  was  the  impossibility  of  obtaining  a  crew  for  the  return 
voyage.  Previous  contracts,  forfeiture  of  wages  already  earned,  and 
extravagant  offers,  generally  failed  to  outweigh  the  strong  temptation 
held  out  to  the  able-bodied  labourers  at  the  mines. 

It  is  a  most  satisfactory  reflection  that  other  and  far  more  im- 
portant ends  than  the  collection  of  gold  will  be  accomplished  by  the 
settlement  of  California.  The  soil  is,  in  many  locations,  exceedingly- 
productive;  and  when,  with  the  increasing  population,  labour  shall 
have  been  applied  to  the  development  of  the  agricultural  resources 
of  the  country,  the  new  state  will  be  entirely  self-dependent.  Not 
only  as  a  producing  country,  but  as  a  great  commercial  dSpdt,  Cali- 
fornia bids  fair  to  rival  the  most  wealthy  and  prosperous  of  the 
United  States.  There  can  be  but  little  doubt  concerning  the  estab- 
lishment, in  the  course  of  a  few  years,  of  a  railroad  line  which  shall 
directly  unite  the  Atlantic  and  Pacific,  traversing  the  whole  breadth 
of  the  continent.  With  the  accomplishment  of  this  undertaking 
will  commence  a  new  era  in  commerce,  and  the  wealth  of  eastern 
Asia  will  reach  the  civilized  world  by  a  new  mode  of  transit.  Al- 
ready has  a  road  been  more  than  half  completed,  by  whicli  freight 
will  be  transported  across  the  Isthmus,  and  the  necessity  for  the  lung 
and  hazardous  voyage  round  the  Cape,  or  the  Horn,  be  obviated :  at 
Tehuantapec  facilities  offer  for  a  route  still  more  direct;  but  when 
the  great  overland  line,  carried  through  in  spite  of  all  natural  obsta- 
cles, shall  once  be  fairly  established,  it  must  take  the  principal  share 
of  travel  and  transportation.  When  we  consider  the  rapidity  witli 
which  our  western  settlements  have  extended,  with  no  facilities  for 
the  conveyance  of  produce  to  a  market  other  than  the  natural  ad- 
vantages of  navigable  streams,  we  can  scarcely  be  guilty  of  extrava- 
gance, in  whatever  terms  we  may  speak  of  the  future  growth  and 
dovelopnient  of  the  region  to  be  traversed  by  the  Atlantic  and 
Pacific  railroad. 


TUE  UNITED  STATES. 


425 


The  population  of  California,  as  given  by  the  census  of  1850, 
amounted,  in  round  numbers,  to  two  hundred  and  fourteen  thousand; 
but  so  shifting  was  its  character,  and  so  constant  the  influx  of  emi- 
gration, that  this  estimate  was  scarcely  more  than  conjectural,  and  a 
new  census  has  been  accordingly  ordered.  '  -     ■ 


tjJuLin>x^ii!!ili    JLiLiio 


THE  M0RM0K8. — ADMINISTRATIONS  OF  ZACHARI  TAYLOR  AND 
MILLARD  FILLMORE:   ADMISSION  OF  CALIFORNIA  INTOTHE 
UNION:  DEBATE  UPON  THE  SLAVERY  QUESTION:  THE  COM- 
PROMISE: EXPEDITIONS  OF  NARCI8S0  LOPEZ. — STATIS- 
TICS.— FRANKLIN  PIERCE  PRESIDENT:  JAPAN:  THE 
NEBRASKA  QUESTION. 


i! 


The  year  preceding  the  discovery  of  gold  in  California,  a  move- 
ment was  set  on  foot  for  the  establishment  of  a  settlement  upon  the 
border  of  that  region  described  by  Fremont  as  the  "Great  Basin" 
of  the  west.  The  character  of  the  expedition,  the  motives  and  ex- 
pectations of  those  engaged  in  it,  its  visible  effects,  and  probable 
future  consequences,  stand  in  strange  and  striking  contrast  to  the 
peculiarly  mercenary  characteristics  of  Californian  emigration  and 
progress 

Driven  by  persecution  from  their  settlement  at  Nauvoo,  the  Mor- 
mons, in  1846,  established  themselves  temporarily  in  Iowa,  and  af- 
terwards farther  westward,  upon  the  bank  of  the  Missouri.  Their 
object  appeared  to  be  the  attainment  of  a  situation  so  isolated  as  to 
allow  of  the  free  development  of  their  peculiar  system,  and  yet  suf- 
ficiently productive  to  supply  all  the  necessities  of  an  independent 
community. 

The  present  age  has  witnessed  no  religious  or  sectarian  delusion 
of  so  gross  a  character,  and  yet  so  ably  and  enthusiastically  supported. 
"Its  late  origin  presents  to  the  view  all  that  is  low  and  disgusting  in 
bare-faced  trickery  and  imposture;  but  its  present  position,  attained 
and  upheld  by  fanaticism  and  sensuality,  two  of  the  most  effective 
agents  which  can  render  evil  powerful  and  error  contagious,  has 
assumed  a  cliarat'ter  in  some  sort  respectable  and  undeniably  for- 


rr 


420 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK   OF  IIISTOKY, 


inidable.  Persecution  has  had  its  customary  effect,  in  investing  its 
victims  with  dignity,  in  arousing  al!  their  powers  of  resistance,  and 
in  awakening  the  sympathies  of  all  averse  to  injustice. 

"In  other  ages,  this  dangerous  form  of  a  religious  mania  would 
have  had  its  legitimate  manifestation  in  crusades  against  property, 
and  in  the  foundation  of  a  new  state  and  church  on  the  ruins  of  some 
weaker  and  less  vigorous  structure  of  superstition;  at  preser.t,  its 
more  honourable  and  profitable  mission  is  to  afford  a  field  of  harm- 
less action  for  uneasy  spirits,  and  to  build  up  a  new  nation  in  the 
remotest  wilderness, 

*  *  *  "  It  can  hardly  be  doubted  that  the  poly  gamy 
allowed  by  the  new  religion  is,  with  a  certain  class  of  minds,  a  very 
powerful  incentive  for  conversion  to  its  teneta,  and  a  strong  prompter 
to  fierceness  and  resolution  in  defending  them.  But  this  of  itself  is 
entirely  unsatisfactory  in  explanation  of  that  stern  and  eager  enthu- 
siasm which,  beyond  any  of  our  times,  has  distinguished  the  preseii; 
manifestation.  Men  who  wish  for  several  wives  will  do  much  to 
obtain  them,  and  to  keep  them,  but  hardly  what  the  Mormons  have 
done  and  are  doing.  It  is  an  article  of  faith  not  exactly  suited  to 
the  production  of  heroes  or  of  martyrs;  and  that  the  elements  of 
such,  in  great  numbers,  may  be  found  in  the  Mormon  ranks,  no  man 
conversant  with  their  history  will  deny.  A  spirit  of  deeper  and 
more  respectable  error — the  spirit  of  faith  and  fanaticism,  almost 
invariably  fierce,  vehement,  and  enduring,  in  proportion  to  the  folly 
and  puerility  of  its  creed — has  been  the  main-spring  of  this  extra- 
ordinary movement,  and  remains  a  problem,  as  insoluble  as  any  of 
the  same  class  which  have  preceded  it."* 

The  progress  of  the  Mormons  westward  wj»  i  delayed  and  embar- 
rassed by  a  requisition — promj'tly  and  honourably  complied  with — 
for  five  hundred  of  their  number,  to  serve  in  the  Mexican  war. 
After  a  winter  of  great  destitution  and  suffering,  occasioned  by  this 
withdrawal  of  the  most  efficient  portion  of  their  community,  the 
exiles  fitted  out  an  advance  party  to  explore  the  country  and  fix 
Tipon  a  location  for  the  future  settlement.  By  the  route  of  the 
South  Pass,  these  pioneers  made  their  way  across  the  mountains,  and 
directed  their  course  towards  the  valley  of  the  Great  Salt  Lake.  They 
reached  their  place  of  destination  in  the  month  of  July,  1847.  A 
si'ttloment  was  immediately  commenced,  and  the  site  of  a  capital 
\\:\ri  cho.sen. 

*  Diucovererti,  &-e.,  of  Amerion. 


war. 
jy  this 
ity,  the 


T  HE  DNITED  STATES. 


427 


Before  the  setting  in  of  winter,  several  thousands  of  the  sect  hud 
emigrated  to  the  valley.  The  lateness  of  their  arrival,  and  the  im- 
practicability of  transporting  any  considerable  store  of  provisions 
across  the  wilderness,  rendered  the  winter  of  1847-8  a  season  of 
destitution  little  short  of  starvation;  but  nothing  could  abate  the 
energy  or  damp  the  enthusiasm  of  this  singular  people.  The  work 
of  building  and  agricultural  preparation  was  unintermitted,  and  an 
abundant  harvest,  during  the  summer  following,  rewarded  their 
exertions. 

from  their  capital,  on  the  lake,  the  Mormons  have  steadily  pur- 
sued a  system  .  f  colonization  by  fitting  out  expeditions  for  explora- 
tion and  settleu.ent.    These  are  particularly  extended  towards  the 
Pacific  coast.     According  to  the  Report  of  Captain  Stansbury:  "It 
is  the  ultimate  object  of  the  Mormons,  by  means  of  stations,  wherever 
the  nature  of  the  country  will  admit  of  their  settling  in  numbers 
sufficient  for  self-defence,  to  establish  a  line  of  communication  with 
the  Pacific,  so  as  to  afford  aid  to  their  brethren  coming  from  abroad, 
while  on  their  pilgrimage  to  the  land  of  promise.     These  stations 
will  gradually  becom    connected  by  farms  nud  smaller  settlements, 
wherever  practicable,  until  the  greater  part  of  tlie  way  will  exhibit  one 
long  line  of  cultivated  fields,  from  the  Mormon  capitiil  to  San  Diego." 
The  colony,  self-incorporated  in  1849  as  the  state  of  Deseret,  now 
contains  more  than  twenty  thousand  inhabitants;  missionaries  are 
successfully  engaged  in  various  parts  of  the  world  in  procuring 
proselytes  to  the  faith;  and  the  community  is  constantly  increasing 
in  power  and  importance.    Their  president,  Brigham  Young,  con- 
firmed in  authority  as  governor  of  the  territory  by  the  United  States' 
government,  is  recognised  by  his  people  as  invested  with  power 
nearly  absolute,  both  spiritual  L>nd  temporal;  and,  in  the  entire  ad- 
ministration of  civil  aifairs,  the  government  is  a  perfect  hierarchy. 
How  far  these  extraordinary  regulations  may  eventually  clash  with 
the  authority  of  the  federal  government  is,  as  yet,  uncertain;  but 
the  disregard  and  indignity  sustained  by  the  territorial  judges  and 
secretary  first  commissioned  by  the  executive  of  the  United  States, 
are  ominous  of  future  contumacy. 

One  noticeable  effe('*.  of  the  war  with  Mexico,  has  been  to  bring 
forward  a  host  of  a.spirants  to  political  eminence,  the  prestige  of 
whose  military  achievements  has  too  rdum  served  to  distract  atten- 
tion from  their  gross  incompetency  for  tlie  management  of  public 
alVuirs.     This  remark,  li;ip})ily,  docs  not  apply  to  many  snccossful 


! 


!i\ 


:i.^ 


if 


428 


THE  PEOPLE'S   BOOK   OF  HISTOKY. 


candidates  for  popular  favour,  whose  worth  and  abilities  might  have 
remained  unappreciated,  but  for  the  ^clat  of  their  services  in  the  war. 

The  influence  of  the  national  fondness  for  military  renown,  was 
brought  to  bear  upon  the  presidential  election  of  1848.  The  candi- 
dates of  the  respective  parties  were  Lewis  Cass,  of  Michigan,  and 
Zachary  Taylor,  of  Louisiana.  General  Taylor,  recei vi  ng  the  electoral 
majority,  was  inaugurated  on  the  6th  of  March  ensuing.  Millard 
Fillmore,  of  New  York,  was  chosen  vice-president. 

At  the  congressional  session  of  1849-50,  the  application  of  Cali- 
fornia for  admission  to  the  Union,  in  connection  with  the  necessity 
for  organizing  a  territorial  government  in  Utah  and  New  Mexico, 
gave  rise  to  the  most  violent  and  protracted  debate.  A  proviso, 
previously  introduced  by  Mr.  Wilmot,  of  Pennsylvania,  relative 
to  the  exclusion  of  slavery  in  the  formation  of  new  states,  being 
insisted  upon  by  members  from  the  free  states,  the  whole  question 
was  made  a  theme  for  angry  and  extravagant  declamation.  Scvora' 
months  passed  without  the  accomplishment  of  any  important  legis- 
lation, the  time  of  congress  being  taken  up  by  stormy  and  unprofit- 
able debate — too  often  by  disgraceful  personal  controversies. 

Early  in  May,  a  committee  of  northern  and  southern  members, 
of  which  Mr.  Clay  was  chairman,  appointed  to  digest  some  scheme 
of  mutal  concession  respecting  the  vexed  question  of  slavery,  and 
its  application  to  the  measures  in  contemplation,  made  report.  In 
the  compromise  thus  proposed,  very  little  was  conceded  to  the  claims 
of  the  members  from  free  states.  During  its  discussion,  and  before 
final  action  upon  either  of  its  separate  items,  a  change  of  administra- 
tion wook  place.  President  Taylor  died  on  the  9th  of  July,  ISoO, 
and  was  succeeded  by  the  vice-president,  Mr.  Fillmore. 

The  compromise  measures  were  separately  discussed  and  adopted, 
substantially  as  reported  by  the  committee.  Before  the  close  of  Sep- 
tember, the  territories  of  New  Mexico  and  Utah  were  orgaiiized 
without  anti-slavery  restrictions;  California  was  admitted  into  the 
Union;  the  Texan  boundary  at  the  north-west  was  established;  a 
bill  was  carried  containing  specific  provisions  for  the  recapture  of 
fugitive  slaves;  and,  in  the  District  of  Columbia,  over  which  con- 
gress exercises  exclusive  jurisdiction,  the  slave-trade  was  formally 
abolished. 

During  the  summer  and  autumn  of  1851,  great  excitement  was 
caused  tliroughout  the  Union,  particularly  in  the  southern  states 
by  the  events  connected  with  an  attempt  at  the  overthrow  of  Span 


THE  UNITED  STATES. 


429 


II    StUtl'S 

if  Siiaii 


ish  power  in  Cuba.  General  NnrciBso  Lopez,  one  of  the  principal 
persons  implicated  in  an  unsuccessful  revolutionary  movement  in 
the  island,  in  1848,  '\  n  the  failure  of  that  enterprise,  escaped  to 
this  country,  and  engaged  in  the  preparation  of  plans  for  an  expe- 
dition, to  proceed  from  the  United  States,  and  cooperate  with  the 
efforts  of  the  disaffected  party  in  Cuba. 

That  such  an  undertaking  was  on  foot  soon  became  generally 
known,  and  a  proclamation  was  issued  by  the  president,  strongly 
condemning  the  illegal  movement,  and  denouncing  those  engaged 
in  it  as  liable  to  severe  penalties  under  the  existing  laws  of  the 
country.  The  expedition,  however,  was  favoured  by  a  large  party 
in  the  community,  and  Lopez,  having  enlisted  and  embarjced  a 
force  of  more  than  six  hundred  men,  sailed  for  the  coast  of  Yuca- 
tan. With  the  principal  portion  of  his  followers,  he  then  proceeded, 
in  the  steamer  Creole,  to  the  port  of  Cardenas,  en  the  north  shore 
of  Cuba,  where  a  landing  was  effected  on  the  19th  of  July,  1850. 

Afler  some  sharp  skirmishing  with  the  Spanish  troops  posted  in 
that  quarter,  the  invading  party  obtained  complete  possession  of  the 
town,  and  the  general  was  fully  expectant  that  the  revolutionary 
party  of  Creoles  would  hasten  to  join  his  standard.  It  was,  however, 
soon  evident  that  they  were  unwilling  to  share  in  what  appeared  a 
desperate  undertaking ;  and,  as  large  forces  from  Havana  and  Ma- 
tanzaa  might  be  momentarily  expected  upon  the  scene  of  action, 
a  rtiembarkation  was  effected,  and  the  invaders  returned  to  the 
United  States. 

In  no  wise  discouraged  by  the  result  of  the  first  expedition,  Lopez 
continued  his  correspondence  with  the  revolutionists,  and,  gaining 
renewed  confidence  from  their  representations,  again  enlisted  a  snmll 
body  of  adventurers,  mostly  citizens  of  the  United  States,  for  the 
purpose  of  a  second  invasion. 

On  the  night  of  August  11th,  1851,  with  about  four  hundred  fol- 
lowers, he  landed  at  Playitas,  some  sixty  miles  westward  from 
Havana.  Leaving  one  hunared  and  twenty  men,  under  Colonel 
Crittenden,  in  charge  of  the  baggage,  Lopez  marched  his  forces  to 
Las  Pozaa,  a  distance  of  ten  miles.  At  this  place,  they  were  attacked 
on  the  day  following  by  a  body  of  eight  hundred  Spanish  troops. 
The  assailants  were  repulsed  with  heavy  loss,  and,  on  the  succeeding 
day,  about  forty  of  Crittenden's  party  effected  a  junction  with  the 
main  body.  Most  of  tlie  otiiofs  were  taken  prisoners,  and  shot. 
Victorious  against  t-nonnous  odil.s  in  <i  second  buttle,  but  failing 


if 


f 


I   . 

it 


430 


THE  I'EOPLE'S   BOOK   OF   UI8T0RY. 


to  receive  accessions  to  their  force  from  among  the  Creoles,  Lopeis 
and  his  followers  were  soon  broken  down  by  fatigue,  exposure,  and 
famine.  The  general  voluntarily  surrendered  himself  to  the  enemy. 
He  could  scarce  hope  for  mercy  from  a  government,  for  the  over- 
throw of  whjuh  he  had  so  long  devoted  his  whole  energies.  He  was 
executed  on  the  1st  of  September,  by  the  infamous  garotte — meeting 
his  fate  with  calmness  and  dignity,  and  exclaiming,  with  his  latest 
breath,  "I  die  for  my  beloved  Cuba!" 

No  further  imminent  danger  being  apprehended,  and  a  sufficient 
example  having  been  already  ma'^e  by  the  summary  vengeance 
taken  upon  the  leader  and  the  men  of  Crittenden's  detachment,  the 
other  prisoners  were  leniently  dealt  with.  They  received  a  pardon 
from  the  Spanish  government,  after  a  short  imprisonment 

The  Captain-General  of  Cuba,  at  this  period,  was  Don  Josd  de  la 
Concha;  a  man  who,  although  of  a  stern  and  unyielding  disposition, 
enjoys  a  far  higher  reputation  for  integrity  than  most  of  those  who 
have  held  a  similar  position  in  the  island.  His  recent  restoration  to 
office,  in  place  of  Pezuela,  has  caused  much  apparent  enthusiasm 
amuiig  the  inhabitants. 

The  few  years  that  have  elapsed  since  the  close  of  the  Mexican 
war,  have  witnessed  a  vast  change  in  the  aspect  and  resources  of 
the  United  States  and  their  territory.  A  frequent  and  regular  com- 
munication with  the  Old  World  has  been  established  by  lines  of 
ocean  steamers,  and  the  tide  of  immigration  pours  in  unceasingly. 
The  population  of  the  eastern  states,  notwithstanding  the  constant 
and  enormous  drain  occasioned  by  the  opening  of  a  new  field  for 
enterprise  and  exertion  at  the  fur  west,  is  steadily  on  the  increase. 
The  influx  of  gold  from  California  and  Australia  has  added  greatly 
to  the  nominal  value  of  every  species  of  property,  and  has  given 
facilities,  unfortunately  too  extensive,  for  speculations  and  extra- 
vagant undertakings. 

The  number  of  stales,  by  the  admission  of  California,  was  increased 
to  thirty-one.  Arkansas  became  a  state  in  1835;  Michigan,  the 
twenty-sixth,  in  1837;  Florida,  Iowa,  and  Wisconsin,  in  1845,  '6, 
and  7,  consecutively.  The  total  ()opulation  of  the  United  States 
and  territories,  judging  from  the  mean  ratio  of  increase  for  the  past 
sixty  years,  must,  at  the  present  time,  (1854,)  considerably  exceed 
twenfy-Uve  millions.  The  entire  slave  population,  at  the  census  of 
1850,  amounted  to  3,178,055.  Tlie  vhlue  of  domestic  products  ex- 
ported during  the  year  ending  June  oOih,  1853,  was  $213,417,697: 


©s 


w 


'^./'.ijar  sc 


7    \^ 


l  ALU  Mi  \      T  \  \  LOR, 

TWELFTH    riiESlDENT   OV   TliK    UXITED   SfATES. 

BOKN  IN  1761  ;  IKSTALLEB  IKl'O  OFl-ICE  ISIO  ;  bKRVKD  UNTIL  HIS  DK  ATH, 
WUlcU  TOOK  FLACE  JULY  a,  16:0. 


TUE   UNITED  8TATK8. 


481 


that  of  foreign  commodities  exported  during  the  same  iwiriod,  was 
$17,558,400,  making  a  total  of  $230,976,167.  The  importations  of 
this  year,  were  valued  at  $276,078,047. 

For  the  last  ten  years,  more  than  1,400  vcssola,  upon  an  average, 
have  been  yearly  constructed  in  the  states  and  territories.  The  total 
tonnage  exhibited  by  the  returns  in  1853,  in  tons,  and  ninety-fifths 
was  4,407,010  48.  ' 

Franklin  Pierce,  president  of  the  United  States,  was  inaugurated 
on  the  4th  of  March,  1853.  Since  his  accession,  the  country  has 
remained  at  peace  wi\h  other  nations,  and  in  a  condition  of  general 
prosperity.  The  moat  noticeable  event  connected  with  our  foreign 
relations,  at  this  time,  is  the  successful  negotiation  of  a  treaty  with 
Japan,  by  which  the  ancient  restrictive  policy  of  that  populous  and 
wealthy  empire  has  been  materially  relaxed. 

The  action  of  congress,  at  the  session  of  1853-4,  in  organizing  the 
territories  of  Nebraska  and  Kansas,  upon  principles  directly  in 
contravention  of  the  provisions  of  the  Missouri*  Compromise,  has 
produced  a  degree  of  excitement,  and  an  alienation  between  the  slave- 
holding  and  free  states,  the  result  of  which  yet  remains  to  bo  seen. 
It  has  been  said  that,  at  the  period  of  the  election  of  the  younger 
Adams  to  the  presidency,  "party  differences  in  America  had,  in 
fact,  ceased  to  be  founded  on  principle;  and,  as  such  differences 
must  always  exist,  they  came  to  base  themselves  upon  personal 
attachments  and  antipathic.'^,  as  well  as  upon  territorial  divisions." 

A  change  «<"  wh.J  similar  may  be  observed  at  tho  present  time. 
So  great  has  .,  on  the  assimilation  of  sentiment  upon  points  formerly 
in  direct  utroversy  between  the  two  great  parties  into  which  the 
country  vmus  .lividcd,  and  so  many  causes  of  division  have  occurred 
upon  her  questions,  that  former  lines  of  political  separation  are 
.scar  i>ly  recognisable.  The  old  party  issues  are  dead;  and  a  more 
dai»geroua  sourceCof  contention  has  arisen. 

We  can  perceive  scarce  a  semblance  of  that  personal  animosity, 
;i  kw  years  since  so  disgracefully  prominent,  which  animated  indi- 
viduals of  the  opposing  parties,  and  entered  into  every  transaction, 
public  or  private,  however  disconnected  with  the  fancied  grounds 
ofdi.spute.  In  its  place  has  arisen  a  spirit  of  sectional  opposition, 
if  less  obtrusive  and  disgusting,  yet  far  more  stern  and  formidable. 
More  formidable,  because  no  longer  based  upon  a  mere  antagonistic 
party  feeling,  but  aroused  by  the  direct  appeal  of  interest;  and  be- 
cause it  is  difficult  to  foresee  by  what  stroke  of  policy,  or  what  course 
Vol.  IV.— 56 


f 


»l 


482 


THE  PEOPLE'S   BOOK   OF   HISTORY. 


of  events  the  mooted  point  can  be  finally  set  at  rest,  and  the  demon 
of  discord  exorcised.  'v'-h-  ?■    ■    ■-;,;' i/vi,;,   , 

Our  chief,  if  not  our  only  hope,  must  lie  in  the  reflection,  that  a 
still  stronger  and  more  universal  tie  of  interest  will  preclude  such 
hasty  or  unreasonable  action,  by  either  party  for  the  time  in  the 
ascendant,  as  could  lead  to  open  rupture  between  different  sections 
of  the  TFnion.  Such  a  reflection  may  be  less  flattering  to  the  na- 
tional pride,  but  is  far  more  reasonable,  as  a  ground  for  favourable 
anticipation,  than  any  recurrence  to  feelings  of  patriotism,  or  even 
of  political  honour. 

While  none  could  more  earnestly  deprecate  the  madness  of  seces- 
sion, or  of  a  voluntary  partition  of  the  confederacy,  we  can  but  say 
of  the  American  Union,  as  Lord  Crewe  says  of  the  name  of  De 
Vere,  in  his  celebrated  opinion  concerning  the  earldom  of  Oxford: 
"Time  hath  its  revolutions;  there  must  be  a  period  and  an  end  to 
all  temporal  things— ^nis  rerum;  an  end  of  names  and  dignities, 
and  whatsoever  i»  terrene,  and  why  not  of  De  Vere?  *  *  * 
And  yet  let  the  name  and  dignity  of  De  Vere  stand  so  long  as  it 
pleai»eth  God." 


i;i.l 


r-i  .1! 


THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


.OJif!     jh'.'f' 


■  ;t;iJrt  /;ij 


)ng  as  it 


Nearly  midway  between  the  eastern  and  western  continents, 
and  a  little  southward  of  the  tropic  of  Cancer,  is  situated  the  Sand- 
wich or  Hawaiian  group  of  islands.  They  are  twelve  in  number, 
of  which  eight  are  inhabited,  the  others  being  barren  rocks.  Hawaii, 
the  largest  and  most  southerly,  has  a  triangular  form,  each  side 
measuring  eighty  or  ninety  miles.  The  others,  of  which  the  most 
considerable  are  Maui,  Lanai,  Molokai,  Oahu,  and  Kaui,  form  a 
chain  extending  north-westerly  from  Hawaii,  a  distance  of  between 
three  and  four  hundred  miles. 

These  islands  are  of  volcanic  origin,  and  like  others  of  that  class, 
when  subjected  to  the  heat  of  a  tropical  sun,  present  to  the  eye  the 
most  beautiful  and  romantic  contrast  of  lofty  mountains,  fertile  val- 
leys, precipices  of  rugged  rock  or  lava,  and  plains  rich  with  the  most 
luxuriant  vegetation.  For  equability  of  climate,  variety  of  produc- 
tion, and  beanty  of  natural  scenery,  perhaps  no  spot  on  earth  can 
offer  superior  advantages. 

Vague  reports,  gathered  from  native  tradition,  or  from  ancient 
chai"t9,  seem  to  establish  the  fact  that  these  islands  were  visited  by 
Sptuiish  vessels,  during  the  early  periods  of  American  discovery  and 
colonization ;  but  the  first  distinct  account  of  them  appears  in  the 
journal  of  Captain  Cook's  last  voyage  of  discovery.  On  the  morn- 
ing of  January  18th,  1778,  land  was  made  at  the  western  extremity 
of  the  group,  and,  on  the  day  following,  as  the  ships  drew  near  shore, 
the  natives  came  off  in  canoes.  They  called  the  island  Atooi,  since, 
by  a  change  in  orthography  and  a  more  correct  analysis  of  the  lan- 
guage, written  Kaui.  Upon  the  occasion  of  this  first  visit,  one  of 
the  natives  was  shot  for  thieving,  but  a  friendly  intercourse  was, 
notwithstanding,  maintained,  and  after  a  stay  of  a  fortnight,  the 
shijis  sailed  for  the  north-west  coast  of  America. 

Upon  his  return,  near  the  close  of  the  year.  Captain  Cook  discov- 
ered and  landed  at  Hawaii.    He  remained  among  the  islands  until 


' 

u 


434 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK   OF  HISTORY. 


February,  1779.  On  the  14th  of  that  month,  in  the  attempt  to  com- 
pel restitution  of  a  stolen  boat,  by  seizure  of  the  king  of  Hawaii, 
Kalaniopuu,  he  lost  his  life.  A  great  crowd  of  the  natives,  suspi- 
cious of  his  design,  gathered  round  the  king's  house.  Finding  it 
impracticable  to  carry  out  his  original  plan.  Cook  attempted  to  reem- 
bark  on  board  his  boat  with  the  guard  which  had  accompanied  him 
on  shore.  Stones  were  thrown  and  shots  fired ;  and,  just  at  the  edge 
of  the  water,  the  commander  was  stabbed  in  the  back  with  an  iron 
dagger,  which  one  of  the  islanders  had  before  obtained  by  barter. 
The  scene  of  this  fatal  event  was  the  landing  at  Kealekeakua  bay, 
on  the  western  coast  of  Hawaii. 

The  islands  were  not  again  visited  until  La  Perouse  touched  there 
in  1786.  Afler  that  time,  vessels  occasionally  put  in  for  water  and 
fresh  provisions,  and  in  1792  and  1794  Vancouver  made  some  stay 
at  the  group,  and  by  every  method  strove  to  conciliate  the  chiefs, 
and  establish  a  friendly  feeling  towards  foreigners.  The  violence  cf 
the  latter,  and  the  treachery  of  the  natives  had,  upon  several  occa- 
sions, resulted  in  hostility  and  bloodshe<l. 

Meanwhile,  an  important  change  was  in  progress  in  the  govern- 
ment of  the  islands.  Kalaniopuu  died  in  1780,  and  his  ne[)hew, 
Kamehameha,  a  young  chief  of  great  enterprise  and  intelligence, 
commenced  a  career  of  conquest  and  diplomacy,  which,  he  pursued 
with  such  perseverance  and  vigour,  that,  in  1796,  he  had  obtained 
unquestioned  sovereignty  over  the  entire  group.  Throughout  his 
reign,  which  lasted  until  hi.s  death  in  May  1819,  he  pursued  an 
honourable  and  sagacious  policy  towards  strangers,  encouraging 
trade,  and  protecting  the  persons  and  property  of  those  who  visited 
his  dominions.  His  son  Liholiho  succeeded  to  the  kingdom,  assum- 
ing the  title  of  Kamehameha  II. 

Popuhir  faith  in  the  old  system  of  idolatry  had  been  weakened 
by  long  intercourse  with  civilized  nations;  and  the  new  king,  sliortly 
after  his  accc^ssion,  get  the  example  to  his  people  of  an  open  breach 
of  the  rigid  restrictions  of  the  tabu,  by  which,  for  ages,  the  conduct 
of  the  natives  had  been  regulated  in  every  occu{)ation  of  life,  under 
the  mo.Ht  severe  and  cruel  penalties.  In  the  year  following,  1820,  the 
first  missionaries  from  America  arrived  at  the  islands.  Great  inter- 
est had  been  awakened  in  the  United  States,  by  the  aptness  and 
capacity  exhibited  by  several  Hawaiian  youths,  whoso  instruction 
had  been  undertaken  by  tlio  American  l)oard  of  missions. 

In   1824,  Liholiho,  with   his  wife,  Katnamali,  visited   England. 


•..iii*.i 


■¥' 


aasum- 


I 


I 


'W4 


>     > . 


%-r 


■^■ 


f  ^ 


l^.-.- 


'^'^ 


*" 


m^ 


THE    SANDWICH    ISLANDS. 


435 


'Aey  -.yere  fettd,  and  treated  with  great  attention  by  the  king  and 
ncbiJity,  but  within  a  month  of  their  landing,  both  died  of  the 
measles.  Upon  receipt  of  this  intelligence  at  the  islands,  Kaui- 
keaouli,  a  younger  brother  of  the  deceased  monarch,  was  proclaimed 
king,  and  still  retains  the  title,  as  Kamehameha  III.  He  was,  at 
that  period,  a  minor,  and  government  \^as  carried  on  by  a  joint 
regency,  consisting  of  the  favourite  queen  of  Kamehameha  I.,  Kaa- 
humanu,  and  an  old  chief,  Kalaimoku,  a  man  of  great  sagacity  and 
experience,  who,  from  his  position  as  premier  to  the  former  king, 
was  commonly  known  as  Billy  Pitt. 

From  the  time  of  their  first  arrival,  the  influence  of  the  protestant 
missionaries  has  been  maintained  in  spite  of  the  most  veliement 
opposition.  While,  on  the  one  hand,  the  success  of  their  efforts  in 
producing  a  'rue  and  beneficial  reform  among  the  licentious,  besot- 
ted, and  careless  islanders,  has  been  grossly  exaggerated;  en  the 
other,  the  most  false  and  injurious  calumnies  have  been  circulated 
and  believed  respecting  their  conduct  and  motives.  That  they  have, 
in  various  instances,  encouraged  the  native  rulers  in  the  enforcement 
of  restrictive  laws  ill-suited  to  the  character  of  the  people;  and  that 
they  have,  in  effect,  exercised  a  species  of  hierarchal  authority  little 
consonant  with  civil  and  religious  liberty,  is  but  too  apparent;  but 
it  must  be  considered  that  the  difl&culties  of  their  position  appeared 
to  require  strong  measures. 

The  introduction  of  Catholic  piiests,  in  1827,  gave  occasion  for  a 
persecution,  with  which  the  Protestant  missionaries  have  been  un- 
justly charged.  Many  proselytes  were  made  to  the  new  faith  before 
the  native  authorities  took  the  matter  iu  hand.  The  use  of  external 
symbols  appeared  to  the  king  and  his  counsellors  to  savour  too 
much  of  the  abrogated  worship  of  idols,  and  the  most  stringent 
edicts  were  sent  forth  and  enforced  against  the  Catholic  form  of 
worship.  The  priests  were  compelled  to  leave  the  islands,  and  the 
natives  who  persisted  in  following  their  instructions  were  very 
harshly  dealt  w^ifch.  In  1889,  a  compulsory  treaty,  enforced  by  a 
powerful  naval  armuniont,  was  entered  into  between  France  and  the 
Hawaiian  govornmerit,  by  vhich  general  right  of  residence  and  reli- 
gious toleration  were  secured  to  French  subjects. 

The  future  destiny  of  the  Sandwich  islands  is  becoming  a  matter 
of  daily  increasing  interest  to  the  great  maritime  nations  of  the 
world.  The  aboriginal  inhabitants  are  fast  dwindling  away,  with 
the  advance  of  civilization,  and  the  influx  of  foreigners.    They  were 


'^ 
li 


■ 


1  "- 


^   ^  ..».-...  .A       .^.^  .    .         •.,-•*- 


436 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HI8T0EY. 


computed,  by  Captain  Cook,  at  a  rough  estimate,  to  number  about 
400,000.  Since  the  first  regular  enumeration,  the  decrease  has  been 
constant.  In  1832,  the  census  returns  exhibited  a  total  of  130,313; 
that  of  1848,  gave  but  80,641.  During  the  past  year,  (1853,)  the 
small-pox  carried  ofif  great  numbers.  As  a  separate  nation,  thoy 
must  soon  cease  to  exist,  and  the  question  of  future  sovereignty  over 
the  islands  will  become  of  grave  importance.  No  other  depot  exists, 
throughout  an  immense  expanse  of  ocean,  for  vessels  engaged  in 
the  whaling  enterprise  in  the  North  Pacihc;  and  the  opening  of  a 
new  cliannel  of  trade  witu  the  East  Indies,  by  the  settlement  of  Cal- 
iforni' ,  has  rendered  the  possible  acquisition  of  the  Hawaiian  islands 
by  the  United  States  a  subject  for  serious  discussion. 

Their  position  is  important,  from  its  remarkable  isolation.  Lying 
in  mid-ocean,  some  two  thousand  miles  from  any  other  habitable 
shore,  directly  in  the  track  of  a  vast  number  of  trading  vessels,  and 
central  to  the  most  extensive  and  valuable  whaling  ground  in  thj 
world,  their  value  as  mere  stopping- places,  for  purposes  of  refitting, 
of  secure  harbourage,  and  the  procurance  of  water  and  fresh  pro- 
visions, is  at  once  manifest.  In  addition  to  these  advantages,  the 
islands  offer  peculiar  facilities  for  the  formation  of  an  extensive 
naval  and  military  stronghold.  The  harbours,  with  the  exception 
of  those  suited  to  vessels  of  light  draught  of  water,  are  few  in  nutn- 
bor,  and  capable  of  being  fortified  in  such  a  maimer  as  to  defy 
attack,  while  the  nature  of  the  coast,  bold  and  precipitous,  or  de- 
fended from  approach  by  surf-beaten  reefs  of  coral,  would  preclude 
the  practicability  of  landing  forces  in  the  rear  of  the  fortifications. 

Such  an  establishment,  once  in  the  occuj)ation  of  a  powerful 
nation,  would  operate  to  exclude  tlie  marine  of  any  hostile  state  from 
safe  or  convenient  navigation  of  the  North  Pacific.  The  principal 
harbour  is  at  Uonolulu,  on  the  south  side  of  the  island  of  Oahu:  at 
most  of  the  other  ports,  large  ves.sels  lie  in  open  roadsteads,  where 
they  can  at  most  seasons  ride  in  safety,  under  the  lee  of  the  land,  or 
in  positions  where  they  can  calculate  with  certainty  upon  the  direc- 
tion of  the  wind,  and  the  conse<iuent  facility  for  getting  under  weigh. 

Even  under  the  limited  and  imperfect  system  of  cultivation  thus 
far  adopted,  the  agricultural  products  of  the  islands  are  by  no  means 
inconsiderable.  During  the  year  1852,  the  total  amount  of  supplies 
furnished  to  merchant  vessels,  whalers,  and  national  vessels,  was 
valued,  by  computation,  at  nearly  one  hundred  and  thirty  thousand 
dollars.     According  to  ciistoinliouso  returns,  the  value  of  the  entire 


THE  SANDWICH  ISLANDS. 


487 


L'ls,  was 


exportation  of  that  year  was  set  down  at  upwards  oi  six  h  ndred 
thousand  dollars,  and  the  importations  of  that  period  were  ot  a  con- 
siderably larger  amount. 

With  an  industrious  population  of  whites,  the  operations  of  agri- 
culture might  be  very  greatly  extended.  The  character  of  the  soil 
is  generally  that  .'  a  rich  compopc  of  volcanic  debris  and  vegetable 
mould.  It  is  well  suited  for  the  cultivation  not  only  of  most  trop- 
ical productions,  but  of  fruits  and  grain  generally  considered  pecu- 
liarly adapted  to  a  ter.iperate  cliniate.  The  most  astonishing  yield 
is  in  the  article  of  kalo,  or  taro,  the  root  of  an  esculent  species  of 
arum,  which  has  always  formed  the  principal  article  of  food  among 
the  natives.  It  is  said  that  a  patch  of  land  forty  feet  square,  planted 
with  this  root,  will  produce  sufficient  support  for  one  person. 

The  cultivation  of  sugar  has  been  attended  with  profit  and  success; 
cotton  is  raised  without  difficulty  in  certain  locations;  bananas  and 
plantains,  more  valuable  io  the  poorer  classes  in  a  tropical  country 
than  the  potato  in  our  own  climate,  grow  in  the  greatest  luxuriance, 
and,  requiring  little  labour  of  cultivation,  yield  an  enormous  return. 
Maize,  wheat,  rice,  coffee,  indigo,  tobacco,  vegetable  oils,  ginger,  &c., 
can  be  produced  in  abundance.  The  list  might  be  extended  by  the 
enumeration  of  most  of  our  own  garden  vegetables  and  fruits. 
Among  the  spontaneous  productions  of  the  forest,  sandal-wood  has 
been  the  chief  article  of  export,  but  many  beautiful  varieties  of  or- 
namental woods,  suitable  for  cabinet  purposes,  exist,  and  might  be 
made  a  source  of  profit. 

A  system  of  irrigation,  for  which  many  facilities  are  presented, 
might  greatly  increase  the  extent  of  fertile  territory,  as  the  contin- 
ued droughts  experienced  at  certain  seasons  constitute  a  serious 
drawback  to  the  operations  of  the  agriculturalist.  Of  the  few  arti- 
cles of  domestic  manufacture,  the  most  considerable  is  that  of  salt, 
procured  by  evaporation.  It  is  of  the  best  quality,  and  can  be  pro- 
duced in  the  greatest  abundance. 

An  advocate  of  the  acquisition  of  the  islands  by  the  United  States, 
remarks  of  the  question,  (substantially,)  that  it  is  one  "of  necessity, 
of  time,  and  of  justice.  By  necespity,  is  to  be  understood  not  an 
absolute  and  indispensable  need,  but  that  clear,  strong,  legible  con- 
venience and  fitness  which  the  common  understanding  sees  and 
feels;  and  when  this  convenience  and  fitness  shall  be  apparent, 
aiul  the  parties  declare  tlicrnselves  ready  and  willing  for  the  con- 
nection, the  time  will  be  propitious,  and  the  justice  unquestionable. 


ii* 


488 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK   OF  HISTORY. 


for  no  question  can  well  arise  as  to  the  right  of  other  nations 
to  interfere." 

The  European  maritime  powers  look  with  great  jealousy  upon 
certain  movements,  already  in  progress  upon  the  islands,  and  aiming 
at  peaceable  annexation  to  the  United  States,  by  the  operation  of 
treaty  with  the  native  government.  In  a  memorial  to  the  king, 
dated  September  Ist,  1853,  the  French  and  British  consuls  made 
vehement  protest  against  i,he  scheme,  as  being  in  contravention  of 
former  treaties  with  thoir  respective  gov  aments.  The  intrinsic 
value  of  the  islands,  especially  considered  in  relation  to  their  im- 
portance for  a  naval  and  commercial  station,  as  the  native  dynasty 
totters  to  its  fall,  may  yet  givv  rise  to  a  disaatroug  contest  for  their 
possession. 


Mii.i.Min  FiLr.MORn,  , 

tiuktkknui  thki^ikknt  of  imk  uxitkd  statks. 

BOP.N    IW    IPOO;    HUfCKI'DED    ']  0   THK    Fr.K.SIDKKcy    HY  VIUTUK   OF   HIS 

OKKIfE  AS  vrr-K  rRFSIDKKT.  ON  TlIK  PKATH  OK  /.AcnAIlY  TAYLOR 

IN  1860:  8KUVKI)  DDlUKi^  'riTK  KKM.MNDKR  OK  THE  TKKM. 


^ 


Fii.\.\i(Li\  riEitcn, 

ForitTKKNTII    I'HKSinKNT  OK  TIIK   I'NITM)  STATKS. 

bm;::  in  n  ii  a:.;i>hikk  yow  jr.,  it-m  ;  iMbTALLi-jj  into  oi-i tk  ik  !t;.3 


>  ■ 


THE  SEALS  OF  THE  SEVERAL  STATES  AND  OF  THE  IINITKI)  STATES. 

THK  OHiniNAL  HTATEH  FIRST — THE  0TIIEK8  IN  CIIHONOI.iKnCAI-  onOEK. 
Thb  puhlitthfr  \*  inuiiily  iiMl**1)tetl  tu  llie  oxcellent  work  of  Marcrh  Willmom,  E«q.,  uu 


"ilmcrtran  Hisiory,**  for  ihn  maieritl  which  cumpuie  the  foll«iwin(r  (If^Hrriptionii 


Onfl  of  Uw  Ohvmnl  Siatmi 

^(.;ai, — A  rirriilar  t^t<lil.  •urrouiiitt^l  hv  n  tniirel  wreiith, 
t'licimiiinwHHl  by  Urn  wunUf  in  Htituim  niuititU,  **  Sn/iUttm 
Rnimtthroi  Nm  HnnltmteniM^* :  "ThH  Si'ixl  nf  the  Ntntit  »f 
Nnw  Maiii[Mliir<'  with  the  Uiitn,  l7Ht,  .nilHmhii«  the  lime  of 
ihft  iul>*[itt<>ii  i>t  ihfl  Ma(«  Omiti'uiiitii,  l^iul  nm)  water  iirft 
rfj)mM)ntMl  mtha  fiire«r<Hiiul,  wiih  the  tnink  uf  ii  trini  mi 
whK'h  thn  hiinlv  wiimlinnn  n  r*H  eiiKuvi^l,  emhrn)*inK  n 
Mwnn  of  hu^y  tife  mrfiiflcant  nf  thn  iiidiiNtnntiM  hiihttii  nf 
the  |MHM)lu :  wnti  n  nhipoii  tlio  atitrltN,  |imt  rriuly  for  luiinch- 
II ur,  Willi  tlifl  Ant«rK^iui  Uiiin«r  <lm|)lnyml,  u  flrimtive  of 
rfinthttnua  to  nnihtirk  on  the  iwii  of  iKihtiral  exwtoitne.  T\w 
■nil,  jtut  eiiierKiiuc  aliovtt  Uia  hormin.  tyniMiM*  the  niuiff 
dMrtiny  ofthfl  ntnle 

/■tti/wM/MW —hi  17fl().  Ul^KW;  IHIIO.  IR-ITH?;  lflin,2HJ0l), 
18a).244,IHl  ;  lH:«l,aw;»28;  mu>.  2m„'j74  ;  lKV>,;M7,07ti 

Mo  uf  KuprewutativtM  It)  ( <MiKM^!w, :);  Klttclorol  Tolet,  6. 


One  of  the  Orimnul  StiiUw 

SKAl*  — \  white  iir  iiilv«fr  n\\  '.  lui  which  in  ?-.  irwhor 
with  two  AiikoH,  and  ikrublft  nitii  .  nl  aIhivo  tht  .lutd.in 
Knnmn  rnmlulM,  w  thn  wiirt\  Hoi'K  .  nml  fr'>m  <  I.  unuer 
cumvr  of  llio  ihinld  m  mioiini'lHd  tin  uiiktl«rttl  I  *•)  fhli 
dnvw^  tyintMthzea  th<j*e  pniici|>!n«  of  rivil  a^  '  .khxu  hb- 
ml>  whirh  liil  to  the  foiiiultiiK  of  thia  noloi  i  t  in  which 
the  fiuth  i*t  the  ritizptui  of  the  atnte  is  itiU  t.  \t\y  anchorrd. 
The  tiintto,  flO[*K,  tdKivn  the  nhlitld,  dire<:tB  tiiH  mind  to  the 
rrliiiii  futurn,  aiitM!i)Militu(  >  -iowmik  ^nwi;ii)ri*y  "f  t'^* 
M  >  *),  and  the  iterimtiitty  of  ;  b  luttitutioiw;  while  the 
tuiieticrtid  lidwlj  denotes  (lit  ''>-tMi>  .iru  still  |>riNfn»(iiiu(  in 
the  nmn^h  of  'lime,  nnd  ii*-  t  the  .  >mpletion  of  Hwtory 
before  the  doittiny  or  th»  nUi.    Khali  iw  ret^mlifl  lher<Miii 

PutmMum — In  ITim,  H»,1I0,  IHOt),  m,\'Zi;  IHllt,  77,031; 
1820,  KI,Of.(» ;  183(t,07,l!W;  IHIO,  HWKW;  IWiO,  H7,Mi. 
>u,  of  KeprRsvntutiveti  ui  ('oiiKn  -vj,  2 ;  Kltict'l  voteit  4. 


One  of  the  Orunnal  SuiieM. 

SKA  I.  — OiUhe  blue  rn>und  of  an  irrp|rdariT-(oni»*«l  Rhield 
an  Indiiin  n  rcprmtMiNil,  ilrmaetl  <*ith  W\\ft\  htmun^-ahirt 
and  nioccaaina.  In  '  ^  rti^ht  IuhhI  im  n  icoldt^ii  U»w,  and  m  Ini 
letl  tin  arrow  with  thn  [Ntint  downwunli  A  tidver  atnr  on 
the  nicht  denoiia  one  of  rho  HiiitMl  StJitei  nf  Anicrini.  A 
wrtMlh  fi)rnw  the  rrrat  of  the  earulrhHon.  from  which  ex- 
teiHit  a  nitht  arm.  cUtlhtHl  and  rmfMl.  th**  lutml  cnwinnii  a 
hroiitUword,  Iho  imnnru'l  nnd  hdt  nf  ^^lu^h  nm  of  cold 
Anto..d  the  Mculrheon,  on  ii  wavmu  h:uMl  or  hdtel,  nre  the 
wonlft,  F.'isfjutit  pl/indtim  mb  Mm-tnte  guietrm — "Hytho 
kwtird  fclu'  w'lika  p«w«  under  Idierty."  Around  the  circular 
iMinier  are  the  wonl«.  "  SitflJli(m  Riipt^thnr  yf.u.nchusfUen- 
KM  "  ■  "The  St-al  of  the  State  itf  M;L'Mi:w'luuMHia  " 

Popflatttm — Inl7^X».:rs.717;  'Hmi.  fA-MA;  1810.  i^^.i^lO; 

1H20,  :c»;a*7.  iKio. «!'».««;  iHio.  rr.(>v'i.  K-yi.  wh..mi 

Nu  uf  Kt'preauntutivos  m  Congruaa,  11 ;  Klecl'l  voUnj,  i.i. 


One  of  the  (iriffinal  Staet. 

SfclAL  —  The  itriKiniil  widiNof  an  oval  form,  without  any 
nmoinental  dcvir*^,  niul  on  the  Ih'ld  are  dt'Immtnl  three 
llcm[K!  vmeti,eu(h  whidinK  aronnd  and  sasiiuiied  by  an  up 
right  sujUKirt — the  whole  rfprtseutiiiff  the  thrre  setlienient* 
(HiiTtford,  Windaor,  nnd  WctliHrMifld)  which  fornmi  the 
early  i  oUmy  '>n  n  hdifl  wuvinn  amund  the  lower  vine  is 
the  uMitto.Qt't  7i.?nj?"/j/  StLHtitvt- — "He  who  planted, still 
tiwtauui*'  Aniuml  Jhe  mannn  of  the  tield  are  the  words, 
"  Su/tUum  Rnpttbftnr  ConnecUnttmsis  " :  "  The  Seal  of  the 
Slate  of  I'onnt'cticul  "  The  Dolunial  ae:il  htid  lilleen  Rrnpe- 
vmea,  with  a  iiaml  prtrtruding  from  the  clouds  on  (he  rijjht 
nUive  them.  trnLspiim  the  lalwl  and  inolU),  which  wan  wov- 
iiur  in  the  air. 

V,*jniht;m    -In  ITW,  238.111 :  1»10.2.M. 002;  1810. 2fi2X)42; 

iftio.  2tr).2(t2 ;  !!■ «».  ■J!**.t;:5;  iftio.  ;i(m,in8 ;  iK^o.  ;ro.7V2. 
No.  of  Ke(iresenlativeK  la  Congruaa,  1 ;  Klectunil  votes,  & 


m 


i 


440 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


One  of  thf  Oncinal  htaii-K 

SKA  I, .—-A  shifUl.Mr  f«r.iitrheon.on  which  u  repit»ent*d 
tiic  ruing  KU!>.  w>>h  u  rurint  tif  hiiU  aiMl  wuUr  in  Ut«f  fur»- 
fm>uni).  Atio>fl  the  shuiiU,  fur  therrpti,  u  ii  wrpath  tiir' 
ntiiiiiitetl  by  a  half  ttl<>)w,  on  whirh  r*M\n  a  martled  eaitle, 
with  wiuKi  'juuttrfti'hetl.  For  thn  Dtii'^MHrien  of  the  iluuttlt 
un  th<'  rucht  is  rmireMiiiUMi  thf)  tygiirvi  uf  JuiOice.  with  ttie 
Rword  in  tNw  huiiu  iumI  the  a(»lea  in  the  other ;  uul  im  the 
\v{\  thp  (tinMens  uf  Lilmrty,  with  Um  wtiiMl  anil  cup  Ul  her 
ji'lt  hiiiul,  luul  Urn  iilivu  bruiK^h  of  peace  in  her  n(tht.  B»- 
low  the  dluetil  islht  nioiUi,  KiYvinor — "More  elevated" — 
ikiu^i^uc  that  the  cuunte  of  the  state  is  cmoard  aiul  hivker. 
Aroiiod  Ui«  tkYtler  of  the  aeaU  hetwscii  two  plain  Unes,  ie 
Iho  ui'^-niiitoa.  in  Koniau  caiulalii,  **  Ilie  Great  Seal  uf  *iie 
Mate  of  New  Yurk" 

Vnt'ulnttim. — In  l79n.340.lX;  1800,686,796;  18ia9S0M0t 
IKdJ,  Uri,U12.  ItU).  I  "tlHieUSi  1&4U,  12.428^421 :  18aa3.0073M. 

No.  uf  Keprenntauvee  in  ConiQreM,  33 ;  Electl  fOta%  3& 


One  of  the  Oriihiinl  m.iu-*. 

ffBAL. — On  a  white  lielti  ta  an  wrntrheon  parted  by  a 
yellow  or  golden  luiid  or  Kinlle,  tin  which  im  reprcwnled  a 
piiHiith  in  Its  natural  (!olour.  In  ttie  up^fer  imrt  of  (he  nlneld 
a  ship  uiult^r  full  will  is  rIkIiiw  smoothly  over  the  waves  u/ 
the  Kea,  which  are  surinonntiHl  by  an  axure  sky.  At  the 
lower  part,  on  n  fcrfcii  ^rouixl.  are  three  Kitliloit  sheaves  if 
wheat,  denotiiiK  Ihnt  ttvririilture,  as  well  as  commerce,  is 
one  of  the  pninary  mliniiciv  of  the  stale  On  the  nght  of 
tlie  shield  IS  a  stalk  of  nmize.  ami  on  the  tuft  an  uhve  branch. 
For  the  crest,  on  a  wreath  of  nlivo  tUiwurN.  im  iwrchttd  it  bald 
ea(l«,witb  winn  ext^-ndeil,  hitUlnix  m  its  iM-iik  a  labt>t,  with 
the  nuUfl^  "Virtue,  Libsrly,  aiul  Independence."  Around 
the  ninritin  of  the  seal  are  the  words,  **  ^>eul  uf  the  State  ot 
Penuay  Ivanin. " 

Population — In  1790.43(373;  18nO.(i(r2;Wft;  1810.HIO,noi; 
l8a\ljCH9.ifi6;  1830,1348^,  l&tO,  l.TiMKU;  IHW,2;ill,7«a 

Na  of  Mpratf-utatiTflB  m  CongreM,  26 ;  tlect'l  vutes,  27 


On*»  cf  thf  t  lriL'li;:il   ^t.-iltl* 

.^Kxl,  ---\  w  iiiif  fchii'iil  if  Msu'rhnon.  U'arinr  thr«) 
ploufhs.  imlicnttiti;  that  tlip  chit-f  rflmiirf  <•(  the  pen|ile  m 
up«»n  :t«ncultiire  I  tic  rn-wt  uin  hfinte'i*  hi-.nl.  siipiiorlixl  by 
a  fiill  f:tr4)d.Nir-hurrnt  helntrt,  rod  in*  on  a  vnse — the  latter 
rnstinx  <<ii  ibr  ti»p  *>f  the  i^<irutrhi><)n  The  snppr>rtrn  Are 
the  'Kildtvs  <>f  t.(tier1ytHi  the  rwht.wilh  her  wttnd  ami  n\n^ 
hfT^'tfl  arm  re«tiiur  on  the  MsutrhwMi ;  ninl  l  en-s  on  the 
left,  bt-r  rwht  b;ui.I  n-KtiiiK  ini  the  esriitrht^m,  and  lier  left 
■oppLtrtinx  f%  r4imun>tun,  filled  with  (ruits  ami  flowers. 
Ant<MMl  thi>  tpitnlrr  uf  (tie  nntl  are  tSf*  wtmls,  in  KiHnoii  mp- 
llala,  ■  I  he  «irmt  ><m'.  tif  the  Sliil«  (*f  N«;w  Jersey,"  and  at 
(he    ^KiNi'    ttit*    t\xf  of  Its  wl'iptum,  in    numenil    tetteni, 

MrxTi.xxvi  (r:«i 

p,ipuU:tum  — !ii  *7*«1.  IHi.irw  .  IHfn  211,910  ;  tHin.2*\M6; 

183(1,  .^*/•.^.  iK-«t.  TitiiGi.  iHMi,  rri;itn:  iMftn.  jh)aw 
N«  uf  Kepreaeotauves  ui  Ctaicreas,  S ,  Llecl'l  vuCea,  7. 


One  of  the  Onmnftl  iin>e«. 

SKAl An  axure  shieUI  or  i-nrMitrheim,  divided  itttn  twc 

equid  |4ir1s  by  a  white  InukI  ormnlle  A  row  »  rrprfsented 
in  th«  tower  t>nn  of  the  fthirld.  himI  iii  the  ti|i{>«'r  inrt  are 
two  symbols,  deeutneil  (fnthntily  to  rvprtwnt  the  ajmrultund 
pnNliirtMifu  »rf  the  state- — irr.iln  and  tntmrro.  The  rnwt 
(a  wrenlh)  su{>fiorls  n  hhip  muter  ftill  sail.  tlisplHyint  the 
AmnrK'nn  liajiner  On  a  white  (ittld  iimmiimI  the  ewiilrheon 
were  Itonivily  wreallw  (rf  rtuweni,  iKiiiwhes  (»f  ttie  ulire 
sfid  ottier  BvinN>la,  but  'Jiese  tuive  liMni  displuml  for  two 
Ajnirtm,  nrprraeniiiu;  a  manner  ami  a  hunter  At  (he  b(4 
tiMiiof  (he  snni,  m  numerals,  hi  the  date  of  its  aflofttHin 
MrH'(*X''IIl  (I*^*!.  niid  nround  the  lM>riter.  in  Roman mp 
ilalii,  are  ttie  wimls,  "(irrut  Seal  of  the  Sinte  of  (NiJnwnre.* 

Vojmlrtttm-     In  ir«'.  W<W;   lW*i.  f^.TTi     IHIO,  r^bTi 
Irt.ti,  72.741 ;   lK»t.7i;^iH;  IKld.  TWjW.'i ;  IHNt.'llAtJ 

So.  uf  Heprescntativea  in  Cutgrvas,  I ,  tlect'l  voUe^X 


SEALS  OF  THE  DIFFKBENT  STATES. 


441 


One  of  the  Orinniil  Stiiten 

SUA  I.  — On  a  whitu  or  silver  field  the  figure  of  Justice  is 
smm  nruniinent  in  tlie  c«n1re  of  the  forei^ruunU,  bh^l''  iiu^  an 
olive  hranrh  anil  nswnni  in  her  nit'it  huiicl,  wliile  lj  ;  left  is 
elevatiiiK  her  well-hnlunned  scales  ulnve  her  head.  At  her 
ifivl  m  a  Iniirel  wreath,  the  fasces,  and  a  comiiropia,  with  an 
uninscniietl  white  lalwl  waviiw  lor..<ely  frtim  their  nwlst.  In 
the  disiaiH%,  on  the  rutlit,  is  a  view  of  the  uceaiit  with  a  ship 
under  full  sail  m  the  perspet^tive,  Itounded  by  a  clear  horizon 
On  the  left  are  some  timtsheads  of  tohuono,  symbolical  of  the 
princiinl  pnMluct  of  tlie  state,  and  a  ship  with  its  sails  partly 
unlurled,  iiidKvtive  of  commercial  enterprise,  1'he  old  seal 
WHS  little  more  than  a  copy  of  that  of  the  United  States,  the 
eaf  ie  lieiiiK  represented  an  it  is  on  the  present  coins. 

i'o»wta/ion.— In  n90,;n9,728;  IHHO,  ;M1,;H8 ;  1810.380M6; 
1820,  4(r7;»0  ,   1830,W7,mO;  ISIO,  470,019  j  l&W,  ,'>83,n»». 

No.  ot'  Kepresentatives  in  rtirifn'csH,  6 ;  i^lect'i  votes,  8, 


One  of  the  Oriitinal  States. 

SEAL  — In  the  orisinal  se^,  which  diflers  somewhat  ftoin 


fonnor  is  a  scroll,  represeiitinx  the  l)eciaration  of  Independ- 
ence, end  tlie  left  supports  her  wand,  surmounted  by  the 
cap  of  liberty.  Oeres  has  ui  her  riftht  hand  three  heads  or 
ears  of  wheat,  and  in  lier  left  ttte  conmcopia,  or  horn  of 
plenty,  filled  with  tlie  products  of  the  earth.  In  the  back- 
ground is  a  marine  view,  indicative  of  the  commercial  re- 
sources of  the  stale.  Around  the  outer  circle,  starting  froni 
a  star  on  the  top,  are  the  words,  in  Human  capitalis  "  Great 
Seal  of  the  State  of  .\orili  rnrohna." 

Populatim  —In  ITSO,  393,7.^1 :  180O,  478,103 :  ISIO,  S6S,500 : 
183(1,538,829;  1830,  7:17,987 ;  1810,7M,419;  laW,  869,039 

No,  of  Uepresentatives  in  Congress,  8 ;  Elect'l  voles,  Id 


One  of  the  Original  Siatis 

SKAL. — On  a  while  or  silver  field  the  (loildess  of  Virtue, 
iie  genius  of  the  ciMiiinoiiwenllh.  is  n?pres#'ii((Hl  dri'ssod  like 
on  Amazon,  resting  on  a  8)iear  with  one  luiiid,  luul  holding  a 
sivord  in  the  other  She  is  m  the  act  of  trampling  on  Tyr- 
anny, represimlwl  by  a  iiiaii  prostrate,  a  cniwti  fiillen  (Vom 
his  nenu,  a  Imiken  chain  in  his  left  band,  and  a  scourge  in 
Ins  rwtit  Onaliiliel  al«>ve  tin'  tlgurea  is  the  wonl"  Vir- 
ginia;** and  lieiieath  them  is  the  motto,  Stc  tmprr  fyrrmmj 
— **  Tlim  we  serve  tyrants.*'  There  urw  no  other  devices  le- 
gitimately lieloiiging  to  the  seal,  although  artists  freiiuently 
emiiollinh  the  field  with  such  local  or  natioimt  emblems  as 
lIuMr  mncv  MUtntests — a  practK«  **  more  liuiioured  m  the 
breach  than  ill  the  otwer\'ance.** 

I'uruliiiiim  —\n  i  IlK),  74S ;««  ,  lHD0,88naX):  ini0,ffri,fi22; 
18ai,  IJUtkl.mi ;  wm.  U-l  1,4115 ,  1*10.  l,a!l.797 ;  18.'*),  1.421.ail. 

No.  uf  HoptvsviilativM  in  Coucr.is.  13 ;  Klecl'l  vule*,  IS. 


One  of  the  Original  St^ites,  • 

SblAL. — In  the  centre  of  a  white  or  silver  field  is  the  de- 
vice of  a  palmetto-tree  (a  s|M^iet>  of  the  date),  with  its  top- 
nuKt  brancliRs  denoting  a  vigorous  growth,  eiiibleniatical  of 
the  pr(H()eroiis  pnigress  of  the  state  Xenr  the  btise  of  the 
tn^  are  two  cniss-pieces,  coinpo.Hed  of  bundles  of  speaiv,  at 
the  crossing  of  which  is  attached  a  scroll  or  lalicl,  with  the 
iiuitto,  Ammis  ojnbust/ue  p^iratt — **  Keadv  [to  defend  it]  with 
our  lives  and  pmtierty,"  which  motto,  liy  the  way.  is  mqre 
generally  put  nruuiid  the  lower  half  of  the  outer  circle,  with 
tiie  wotus  **  .South  Carolina "  occupying  the  upiier  hal( 
precedisl  by  a  single  star  The  emblem  {the  piiliii)  denotes 
sut^ehonty,  victory,  and  triumpli,  and  is,  iierhniis,  the  source 
of  that  deference  which  the  stale  sometimes  exiccis. 

;'i)(mii/iffli— In  1790.21'i.urj;  IBOXSCAn  ;  1810,415,115; 
1820,302.711;  1830i  .WI.ISS;  IfttO,  filMJSW ;  1850,868,507, 

No.  of  Repnjseulatives  in  Congress,  6;  £lect1  vutei^S. 


442 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTORY. 


One  n{  the  Orifriiial  Stated. 

St.M.  — In  the  naitre  of  a  cirrular  whit«  or  ailTer  field 
•re  three  pillarn,  siipiMtrtinft  an  arch,  annind  which  ia  em- 
blaznneUthe  wunl  "CHiitatitulioit."  'I'he  piUaii  aruaymbol' 
eai  al  the  three  ilenutnienti  i>f  the  iitaie  Koraminent — the 
LfKialatnre,  the  .liumarv,  and  the  txeculive ;  and  on  the 
one  at  the  tiithl,  repreeenlniK  the  LegitlatiTe,  ■  the  word 
"  WMdnm :  on  the  nmml,  representing  the  Jndiciiuy,  ia  the 
wiinl  "  Justire ;"  aiul  on  tiiu  tlunL  Fapreaenting  the  Kxecu 
tive,  ia  the  wiinl  *  Mnlcmtiun  "  Near  the  riitfat  pillar  ia  the 
f};^iin  of  an  ii(firi*r  vnxh  a  drawn  swuid*  denotinK  that  the 
aid  of  the  military  la  always  really  to  enforra  reapaet  and 
otndience  tu  law.  Armiiid  the  margin  of  the  circle  m  the 
worda,  "  State  of  Georgia.     179S  " 

Pcpulatim.—ln  \-:9S^«tfit»:  1600,162.101;  1810,282.433; 

iaia,3<(i9S7i  ia30,.'sieja23;  ism.  eBi;»2M8iai  906.185. 

NaarKe|iraaeDlatin«inCa«KM,8;  El«t1  mtei,  la 


Admitted  into  the  I'liion,  17(12 

SICAL — Although  Mie  aeul  of  this  state  ia  apparently  and 
really  amonx  the  rnont  simple  in  ila  draiim,  yet  it  emNxiiea  a 
•wiiincance  which  should  uinmieiul  ilsvll'  to  the  serious  ttni- 
aioeration  of  all  who  urn  dn|««ed  to  place  a  slieht  viihie 
uiwn  the  union  of  the  states.  In  the  centre  *if  a  cmruW 
waits  or  silver  fleld,  two  Iriends  are  sesn  KnispniK  one  liiuid 
ot  each  uUier  in  a  firm  anti  ctmlial  enihriice,  while  Uip  other 
is  extended  to  each  other's  barj(,  nitniftcant  of  cnmur- 
ogement  an<l  support  Helow  them  is  the  enprewive 
mitto,  "L'nited,  we  standi  diviiled,  we  full"  An  onia- 
■nentcid  doubls  circle  encumiMsses  the  whole,  with  the 
words,  "  ^eal  of  Kentucky"  between  the  luies  of  the  upper 
bolf-circle. 

Populatmi~}n  1780.73,077:  ipno.  220,06.1 ;  1810,406,811: 
1820,  464,317  ;  1830.  887,917  ;  1810. 779,828  ;  IMO^  t^^wT 

Ho.  of  RepreoentoUves  in  Congnas,  10 ;  Elact'l  vote*,  11 


T^rf^V. 


:A:V.-^ 


^"anaI 


Admitted  into  the  Vnasi,  1791. 

iSKA  l^-n\  circular  linltl,  in  the  maldle  of  which  ia  a  tall 
eyeiKinen  with  fourteen  hr^nrhes — Ihirtern  rt'[>r<'«entinj( 
tlir  finfinnl  stalls,  and  thf  fmirlcrnlh  or  tofiiiiuvt  the  state 
of  Vermont  suinined  by  the  ntlirrs.  Boneatli  a  tloudieas 
flrmaineiit,  the  (ireen  MmiiitHins  are  seen  towennit  in  (he 
dwtance,  and  m  the  liiretirHual  are  sheaves  of  wheat  and  a 
now,  mdratiTe  of  an  acncnltiiml  and  iinixinK  muntry,  af- 
fordinx  the  tnie  aiHimea  <if  thrtA  and  indepeialence  i<>r  an 
mtaatnous  population.  1'he  Oreen  Mountains  have  ever  Imm 
onaalrrwl  dyuartrnatic  of  the  hotdv  rare  which  inhahtts 
that  tWKm.  Amund  the  niaT(in  of  the  Ackl,  in  Homan 
coiatata.  the  wiml  "  Vermont"  nriipiea  the  iipiier  half  cirrlu, 
aisl  the  worda  '  I-  reedimi  and  rniijr"  omii.y  Uie  lir*er  half. 

/VliwiadM. — In  I7«I,86.4I8:  I8f«.  l.'i4.4flS  :  181(1,217,713. 
IMi,  Xt'.-m,  imi,  asuW!,   Ihlli,  2!i|,'>i«,  IMII.  314.120 

Nu  of  KspreoauiaUvea  ui  IxMifteM,  3 ;  Electoral  votes,  & 


Admitted  mioihe  rmon,  riiti 

^KAl,. — A  while  or  Sliver  circular  field,  the  Upper  half  of 
which  IS  riccu|iied  on  the  nitht  by  a  plough,  in  the  centre  hf 
a  shraf  of  wlleat.  and  ini  the  left  by  a  stalk  of  ii>((isi  In- 
demea(h  i\\ne  emblenu.  evteiaUng  acnus  the  entire  nialdla 
(if  the  field.  i«  (he  woni  "Aurii  ulluni."  deiu  tiiii^  (hut  the  linil 
niluuicr  of  the  state  should  lie  ii|Kai  the  proluctmns  of  the 
sial.  The  lower  half  is  on-uiued  by  a  limled  Inmn.  with 
the  word  **('t>nimen«  "  below  the  water,  iiuiwatimc  (hat  the 
pnapenty  of  all  may  l*e  prinmittil  thniusn  tliw  meuiw  Over 
the  sheaf  of  wheat  are  the  iiuiueral  leiteni  XVI..  denoting 
that  this  was  the  witeenth  state  adinilt«5d  into  (lie  rniuiL 
Around  the  bonier  aie  the  words,  "  'I  he  Cireat  beul  of  the 
Stale  of  Tennessee."  with  the  date  I7WI. 

/'ufw/arina-.-ln  ITU),  3i,7>Jl ;  WO.  lllB.fl02.  tSlfll  261.727: 
1620.422,813;  IK«I,  BSI4101 .   mi(l.  (CftA;|(l;  IHIO,  Iill2,»)l4. 

Nu  of  KepreaentaUves  in  IJuiigress,  lu ;  Usctl  voles,  1% 


SEALS  OF  THE  DIFFERENT  STATES. 


443 


Admitted  mto  the  Unkm,  IHB. 

SEA  U— In  a  circular  Held  are  aereral  dericei,  liniificaiit 
of  the  iteneral  aurface,  bunneaa,  and  proepecte  of  the  state. 
The  central  piirtKm  repreaenta  a  ciiltiToted  country,  with  the 
emblem  of  acricultuie  (a  wheat-eheaf)  on  the  iwht,  and  on 
the  left  a  bundle  of  aeventaen  amwa,  indicoting  the  number 
of  Hate*  then  conatitutinc  the  Union.  In  the  diatanoe  ia  a 
nuiKe  of  mountains,  the  bnae  akiited  by  a  trait  of  woodland. 
The  riKiiiK  (un.  which  is  just  becoming  visible  above  the 
nioimtiiiiia,  betokens  the  risuig  gloi;  of  the  statr.    The  Ibn- 

EhI  ia  an  •ipwue  of  water,  with  a  keel-boat  en  it*  sur- 
iwlicative  of  inland  trade.    Around  the  border  are  the 
a,  'llie  Great  Seal  of  the  State  of  Ohio,"  with  the 
date,  1803 

Poimlttlim— In  I80(\4S3)S;  1810,  230,760;  1830, (ei,43t ; 
1830, 907,903 ;  latO,  1,^19,407 ;  1C90, 1,!«0,406. 
No.  of  Representativea  in  Congiess,  21 ;  Electl  T0tai^23. 


Admitted  into  the  Union,  1816. 

SEAL.— In  the  lower  portion  of  a  cinnilar  field  is  repre- 
sented a  scene  of  prairie  and  woodhuid,  with  the  surmce 
gently  undulating — descriptive  of  the  predominant  features 
iif  the  stale.  In  the  fbregronnd  is  a  bufiUo,  an  animul  once 
abounding  in  great  numbers  in  this  region,  apparent  ly  startled 
by  the  axe  of  the  woodman  or  pioneer,  who  is  seen  on  the 
left,  felling  the  trees  of  the  forest,  denoting  the  murch  of 
dvilizntion  westward.  In  the  distance,  on  Ibe  heht,  is  seen 
the  sun,  just  appearing  above  the  verge  of  the  honzon.  Inn 
half-dide,  spanning  the  ennessive  scene  beneath,  are  the 
wolds  ■*  Indiana  State  Sral."  Around  the  outer  margin 
of  the  whole  is  a  plain  green  border,  surronnded  by  a  simple 
block  line. 

Population --\n  18C0,  4jS7S;   1810,  24,530;  1830,  147,178 
183a34aoai;  l^to,  688.8^  1880,968,416 

tio.  It  Rapreaentotives  in  Congreos,  11 ;  £lect1  voles,  la 


Admitted  into  the  Union,  IHI2 

SKAI.  — l)n  n  wliite  or  silver  ciicbiar  field  is  represented 
1  psliran  standing  liy  her  nest  filled  with  young  ones,  in  ^h« 
atlitiide  (if  "  pnMnrtuiii  nml  ileri^nco,"  nnil  in  tlie  act  of  feul- 
ing  them — all  shnring  alike  her  insleninl  assiduity.  Tlie 
mntlier-hinl  symbiili  m  the  gniivml  government  of  the 
Union ;  while  the  birtlii  in  the  neat  rvpreeent  the  several 
states  Atxive  ore  the  scale*  ofJiuitice,  which,  taken  m 
oonneiKm  with  the  itniliieniB  lienmiih,  tigiiify  that  "equal 
and  eiart  jiutMW  "  must  lie  extcmh^l  tt»  nil  the  menibers  of 
the  onnfedeniry  1'he  «*mi-rirrlt<  ofeigliinfii  stnrs  iiHlH'.ate8 
the  nuinlier  of  states  at  the  tune  of  utltniwKiii  In  the  upfier 
portion  uf  the  external  inn^le  itre  the  wonla,  **  .State  of  \jmxm- 
ana,*'  and  in  the  lower,  thtt  wonls, "  UiiHin  and  <  'onfideiice  " 

PorHlatum.—\n  mill. ';6,.iA6 ;  l)M>,  I.U,4U7;  miu,  3l5,rje) 

i8»o,  a'sa,4ii;  iHfio.  .M^riB. 

Na  uf  Keimisenlalives  m  >'oiigre.«,  4  ;  Klcctaral  votes,  6. 


Admitted  into  the  Union.  1817. 
'  SEAl,  — In  the  centre  of  n  white  or  silver  circular  field  i* 
the  American  engle,  with  wido-spreuil  wings,  ucciipying  the 
entire  surface :  which  may  heconsidemi  nsclenl>ll>l^:  ihat  all 
the  people  of  ttis  stale,  fhmi  whiitever  clinie  or  country  they 
may  have  come,  are  purely  Ameiicaii  m  feelinw.  and  are 
content  to  repose  their  trust  under  the  broad  wings  of  the 
••  binl  of  liberty  "  In  the  right  talon  of  the  eagle  is  a  bundle 
of  fiiur  arrows,  aignificant  of  power  Ui  sustain  the  pnnoiules 
of  guvemment,  and  to  repel  the  assault* of  un  enemy;  while 
on  olive  branch  in  the  left,  lieiokf ns  a  diHpoeition  to  nmint.-iiri 
peoiv  Aroiiiul  the  outer  cinle, lietwecii  (uin-llol  hues,  are 
Uie  words,  in  Komon  capitals, "  I'he  (irent  S>-iii  of  the  State 
of  Mississippi." 

Pofulatum — In  19(10,  S,a«i   1810,  40,352;   1830;  76.448; 
1830.136^31;  1M0,3:5.6SI;  I8fi0,6na526 

No.  of  Neprasenlalives  m  Congress,  S ;  Electl  volai,  7. 


r 


444 


THE  PEOPLE'S  BOOK  OF  HISTOBY. 


Admitted  into  the  I'nion.  1918. 

SEA  I,. — In  Ihc  centre  of  a  wliite  or  silver  eacutrheoo  ■  t 
nprnentatton  of  ihe  Anterinan  cimlt*.  itn  wtngs  iiprend  to  ai 
to  touch  the  Jriiirr  innrmn  of  the  nhuUI.  In  ilii  n^ht  talon 
■  the  emhlem  of  penra,  an  olive  hranoh ;  while  three  arrrnra 
are  cr.wpi'il  in  tlio  left,  ili^notinx  il«  rutOineaa  to  aualnin  the 
three  great  hranches  of  mivenunent.  On  its  hreaat  is  an 
eacutchnm,  the  lowpr  half  of  whirh  is  repmented  of  a  red 
colour,  and  'Ik:  upper  half  hlue.  the  latter  bearinc  lhi«e 
while  or  silver  stnra  Fuim  its  heak  eitenda  a  label,  wav- 
lii)t  >'i  Ihe  air  Hhove  it,  with  the  inscription  "  State  Soverei^- 
tjr;  ..atKHial  Cnioii  "  In  the  urawr  uartof  acircle  eorloanc 
Ae  shii'lil  n re  Ihe  wonls,  "  Seal  of  Ihe  State  of  UUnoui,"  and 
in  the  lower  part  Ihe  date,  "  Auit  26,  IHia" 

Pmrnlahim — In  I8ia  !22ffi;  ira),aMIl;  1830,  I97,«4S; 
1810,476,183,  l&'A  851,470. 

No.  of  Kepreeenlative*  in  Congreaa,  9 ;  Eleotl  mtM^  11. 


Admitted  into  the  Union,  1830. 

SEAL. — A  white  or  lilver  aliield,  on  which  is  represented 
a  pine-tree,  wiih  a  mooneHleer  recunilient  at  its  Imne — ein- 
hlematical  of  the  valuable  tiniher  of  the  stale,  and  ol  the 
■acnrity  atul  repoe  eiuoyed  by  the  animals  which  ranee  its 
immense  Aireets  The''  suppoiten  "  are  a  nmnner  resiiiie  on 
his  anchor,  and  (  hushniiuniui  with  his  »:ythc— denoliiiK 
that  commerce  and  acnculture  an?  each  primary  resources 
of  the  suite.  AUive  Ihe  shield  is  the  North  .Slur,  lienealh 
which  IS  the  motto,  Ihrtao — "  1  direct ;"  and  under  the  shield 
is  tJie  name  of  the  state,  in  Roman  cautals ;  while  sea  and 
land  compcae  the  ihrecround.  Untlieleft,the  tadlmastsofa 
ship  are  perceptible  in  the  distance,  the  sails  spread,  denot- 
ing a  renihnexs  ii>r  nminiercial  enierpriiie. 

iVjIw'"''""  — In  1790,  n6,M0 ;  ISno,  151,719:  1810,228,706; 
18211,  :»l,i;iS ,  18311,  3UU,455i  1840,  5in,7Ki,  1890,-583.169. 

No.  of  Hepreaentatives  in  Conm'ess,  6 ;  Elect'l  votaa,  8u 


Admi'.i—   into  the  Unsm.  1820. 

StAL-  Nearly  tlie  entire  of  a  circular  flekl  ■  omipM 
with  tht'  ri  I  'leHenlaism  of  a  map,  pmhra^irut  Ih^  names  and 
kmditieaol  ihe  princiial  nven  ami  brviis,  as  Ihey  eiiatisd 
at  Hie  time  when  the  lerntonal  aovenimenl  was  eiitahliahed, 
1H17.  A  jmilion  of  Viast  KlorMin, rnitimcinsf  Ihe  line  (►f  sur- 
fcoe  as  far  as  I'eiiaMcol*,  is  inrlutlnl  m  the  map,  ts  ahai  a 
■mall  iKiriHin  of  1  enness»>,  aiifflrieiit  to  show  the  hfiiindarMn 
m  eith<T  sMk)  AroumI  Ihe  circle,  lietweeii  two  (larallel  Inii*. 
are  the  wonls,  in  Hinnan  i-nnials.  "Alalnnm  Kiecntive 
Office  ••  ( I  his  was  Ihe  onrnal  seal  ilesimed  fiir  the  temtorv, 
and  It  wa»  sfterwanls  adopted  liy  the  state  on  its  admisssfn 
hii"  Ihc  I'liHsi,  and  has  remaiiml  uiuhaiiKnl  iver  since 
Uiat  lime) 

/'«l«;/i/«m.— In  IHan,  127,901 ;  IKW, .109,587 ;  18^.190,788; 

ia'<i,r7i.»f7i. 

Na  M'  Hepmentatives  in  Congrws,  7 ;  Elect'l  votea,  9. 


Admitted  intn  the  I/ni<ni,  IH2I. 

SEA  I.  —On  a  cjiculnr  (.hield,  equally  divided  liy  a  perpen- 
dirahir  Ime,  is  a  red  field  on  Ihe  ri«ht  side,  in  wlucli  is  the 
white  or  unzily  lienr  of  Missoiin.  Alsivc,  sep,initej  liv  a 
wavy  or  curved  line,  is  a  white  or  silver  (.n.i<crnt,  in  mi  iiztire 
field  1)11  the  left,  isi  a  while  field,  are  Ihe  arms  of  lh« 
I'liited  States  A  huml  siirnninils  Ihe  osculchoon,  on  wliii  h 
»re  the  wonls,  "  Unileil,  we  siund  ;  dividwl,  wo  (all."  For 
Ihe  rrrsi,  over  a  yello*  or  iroldeii  hi'liiml,  full  fuied,  and 
rmieil  with  sit  \»n,  is  a  silver  star;  aivl  iilsne  it,  a  con- 
NtrllatHmoftwinly  ihnKsin.iller  slum.  The  >>u|>|«iitenare 
two  Knzzly  lieara  standmic  on  a  scroll  in.vnlie<l,  Stilus  foimli 
rnvrrmn  Itz  rtio — "'I  he  plililic  safely  is  llie  supreme  law." 
riHlemeiith  im-  Ihe  nuniiTHls  Mill  ri  XX  ,  and  iiniuml  the 
circle  Ihe  wonls, "  The  Ureal  Seal  of  the  Stale  ol  Missoun." 

/■ojiWo/ifw  — 111  IHIII  aiWSi  18a»,66r«B;  1831^  14(U58: 
1*MII,  3Kl,7m  ;   IIW),  »«2,l44. 

No.  of  KeiKvaeuUtives  in  Confna,  7 ;  fclccti  rules,  9, 


SEALS  OP  THE  DIFFERENT  STATES 


445 


Admitted  into  tliB  Union.  1118  .    ,       ^.  ,, 

SEA  L.-- Oocupyuis  tlie  lowwr  part  of  a  rarle  is  a  shield, 
aear  the  base  of  which  is  a  white  siar  on  a  bine  field,  repre- 
sentiiiK  the  state,  -n  the  middle  portion  is  a  bee-hive,  simi- 
lying  industiy,  a  '.a  a  plough.  dfioUng  a«ricalture;  while  a 
steamhnat,  emblematic  of  tonimerce,  nils  the  upper  part. 
For  the  crest,  tlie  guddesii  of  lihcriy  is  reprceenteu  with  her 
wand  and  cap  in  one  hand,  and  i  wreath  of  laurel  in  the 
other,  surrounded  by  u  oonstellnti'tn  of  stjurs,  indicating  the 
states  The  supporters  are  two  '/aglea,aiia  grasping  a  J>un- 
dle  of  amiws,  and  the  other  ar  ofive  braneo ;  a  label  ex- 
tenduiK  from  the  cluw  of  each,  with  the  motto  Retnant 
PopuU—'Tiia  People  rule."  On  oi'her  side  of  the  biM  is 
a  comuMpia,  and  around  the  circle  which  encloses  the 
whole  are  the  woida, "  Seal  of  the  State  of  Arkansas." 

Populalim. — In  1820,  14,273;  IKUl,  30,388;  1840,  87,97*; 
la-KI,  2U9^)7.  „_.._«       , 

No.  of  Representatives  In  ronsre»i,2;  Etoctl  trotai,  4. 


Adir.itted  into  the  Union,  1845. 

SKAL  —  I'he  seal  which  was  oriEnnally  used  for  the  ter- 
ritory of  Florida,  althouxh  not  fomially  adopted  as  that  of 
the  state,  hac  been  continued  ever  snire,  und  of  course 
retains  all  its  legal  force.  In  the  ceptre  of  a  circular  whits 
or  silver  field  is  represented  the  Amerinin  ciitlc, "  the  bird 
of  libertv,"  grasping  the  emblem  uf  peiii:c,  uii  oUve  brunch, 
in  ita  left  tiuoa ;  and  in  its  rifht  a  bundle  of  three  arrows, 
significant  of  the  three  principal  reliances  of  itikkI  govern- 
ment—the executive,  the  legislatrve,  and  the  judicial.  Above 
at«  arranged  in  a  semi-circle  thirteen  stura,  cnihlematir  of 
the  thirteen  original  states ;  and  below,  the  in>uiid  is  repre 
tented  as  coveted  with  the  ptickly-pcnr,  a  milt  common  to 
the  countrv,  and  for  which  an  appropriate  motto  would  be, 
"  Let  me  alone." 

PopuUitum — In  1830,  34,730;  IBIO,  54,4t7;  1850,  87,444. 

No.  of  Representative*  in  Congress,  1 ;  Llectl  votes,  3. 


Admitted  mto  the  Union,  Wt". 

SKAI..~i>n  an  itsculcheiin  in  ihe  centre  of  ■  white  field 
is  the  represontntion  of  a  peninsula  »itendinir  into  a  lake, 
a  man  wttii  his  aruii,  and  the  risini'  '  .  On  tne  upper  part 
IS  the  wonl  7  VAor — "  I  will  dHlei.u  . ,"  nud  on  a  label  ei- 
tendmK  ocniss  the  lower  part  is  ihe  motto,  Si  qutrrts  prnm- 
sulan  nmfnuim  arrumsjnre — **  If  you  seek  a  delightful  roiin- 
try  (^wninsula),  tiehold  it."  I'he  supporters  are  n  common 
dm  (>.->  thr  njtiir.  niid  a  miiose  im  the  left,  tioth  atxiuiidins: 
in  'Jir  iiiirsts  of  Miclimu.  K:>r  the  crest,  is  the  Aniennui 
eagle ;  alHive  which,  on  a  Iniiel  waving  almve  ai..  is  the 
motto,  E  n/unAia  imum.  Aniiind  the  outer  cirrle,  between 
Iwit  ijamilel  liiips,  are  the  wnnla,'''rhe  Great  Seal  of  the 
Slaeot  Michipin,"  and  "  A   1).  MIH^CI'.XXXV." 

Pormlalwn — In  1810.  4,782;  1820,  8^;  1830,  31,638; 
84n,2123R7;  lMli,39r?AW 

No.  of  Kepreeenlativas  in  Congreas,  4 ;  Electl  vote*,  & 


Admitted  into  the  rnion,  1U!>. 

SEAL. — Tenas  Is  the  only  state  which  enjoyed  a  literally 
independimt  or  iwtlaled  exiiitence  prcviouii  to  ils  admission 
into  the  Union.  Dunns  its  struggle  with  Moxicfi,  it  adopted 
IIS  n    nfficinl  seal  a  while  or  silver  slur  of  five  (Hiints  on  nn 

az 1,  eiicirrleil  by  branches  of  the  live-onk  and  nlive. 

Ar  !  ::ie  outer  circle  were  Ihewonls."!'  "  :  if  I  etas." 
in  K(r..iin  capital  letters.  With  ilie  eiceiH: '  ^  hev.onis 
around  the  margin,  which  is  now  bliuik,  >  '  t  the  word 
"  Texas  *'  in  ihe  upper  half  circle,  the  forme.  .*  il  has  been 
ailopted  since  by  the  stale.  The  live-oid(  {qiuraa  firms), 
which  abounds  m  Ihe  foresu  of  Teios.  is  a  strrng  and  dnr<.- 
ble  timoer,  min-h  used  in  ship-buildmg,  a:id  fomung  -^n 
imoortant  article  of  export. 

Poimlatwn  — lu  la'il),  212,'i92. 

No.  of  KepreseutaUves  in  (Congress,  2 ;  Electoral  votes,  i. 


fi^ 


'040 


INCLLDING    ILLU8TBATION8. 


*K*u.-  ./..i.vjji^. ji  !j«i  ahnr  ilatei which  fu'wred  a 
Uinlsata  •  ,  e.ioc  f  i?  ;-iiin.h  of  Uiw  r  ifo,f  iher  were 
invctttiil  ».  L  ,>.(.  i*.,.;  '  jt;MM,  Iv.i,  a,!;  reuin  her 
oririirol  will, Ihi  <i.v!(-..  ,  -vIikv,  ,<  )^.b•^^»  niore  ampl* 
wjij  U3m«'.-«  rSi'.f!  i'w! .«  .n'  O'lff  mim.  Li  the  oeotra 
■f  a  trhi'* «  Wi  ►. .-')  iiiiM  fi-' j; .«  !«-.  fla«l»  in  the  ittitode 
of  ll."tit.  Krr-'.iiinK  'ii  i !  nil  l»lrtn  ,>  Ix  »,  llj«  left  talun  Jiut 
t  AhM  •rithin  ihe  i:u  i,'  i  ucio  Annul- .  Uie  field,  ■nt!  hoUiiM 
|-iit9»>etSt«  nui.i*  (.fiu.i  The  w.i.iU,  '■Seal  of  the  TerrP 
'.<>Tr  ;»<  'aiv«."  fo  -.,  oeaiiy  h  i;iii|,l<Ke  circle  wxyijiu  the 
iiriil,  t'.icrim.,  b  l.lfinU  ipace  nt  (he  lower  Mirt,ukl  then 
■Kt,!)  OR!  wimxiiKloil  by  while  cunalur  i\:'il  uo  ■  Mack 

ri^pM/a/wii.— li,  l!««i,43,ll2;  1860, 1!a;21l. 

tiu.  itf  Repneenwuvoi  iu  Coogieia,  2 ;  Klec  xnl  mMi^  4. 


Admitted  into  hi  I'l;.!,:    1K1. 

SEAL  -Ui  the  i-rfm-iuiiiil,  un  Ihe  ii'l.  Mi>iem  is  neetod 
on  m  rock  near  the  ;  ;tiik  of  ua  tixtCititive  .'\iy  or  rirer,  whirh 
winda  iu  cuurae  uiuini;  thf  iii;\j<:atic  niiiuntaiiui  on  either 
nde.  Her  ipeu  is  jT'Iut"'')  m  the  nithi  hiind,  while  the  Inft 
rwte  on  the  top  <>f  hei  i.jeld  by  her  wle ,  near  wliioh  ■ 
■  (rinly  bRV,  agnificaiii  >  t  the  uiowy  region  round  about 
On  the  right  ii  u  hnrrly  miner  with  hie  pick,  aevkiiig  ihe 
(oUea  treneurei  eectc:!!!  unKng  ihr  nukj.  Along  the  ri-n. 
m  ie  eeen  a  maieatie  hoy,  with  two  ciippen  in  Aill  view, 
inilif  ling  that  conimen;>  is  one  ol  the  cjiief  rehances  of  the 
peopla.  Above  tl^e  mov  tovered  mountains,  which  bound 
ilta  Ti«w,  is  the  Greek  ivi>.i  £^rrfai—''l  have  founds"  and 
orar  all  ia  a  oiicle  of  s<i>>'-  rttra. 

JV'"*"'"  — Acronli'i-i  «  a  nanana  ordered  by  the  state, 
the  pofHiUmn  in  1882  v-  j.,  .  >tiimed  as  a84,4J6. 

NaarRepceaKUaliTe»inrua(reaB,a;  Elscton]  to(ss,4 


Admitted  into  the  Itnini,  1817. 

SIOAI. — A  lanre  porlHui  of  the  field  ia  ocnipied  by  land 
and  water  srnnory,  denoting  the  agmiUtural,  mmmemal, 
and  1.  'ning  inlrre^ta  of  the  slate.  In  the  fonpffniund  is  a 
man  iilinixhing  wiili  u  i|nn  of  hotsee ;  m  the  middie  ■  a  ule 
of  Inid  in  Inrs,  a  harrpi.i  mke,  a  sheaf  nf  wheat,  an  anflor, 
and  a  otniucofttu.  l.akr«  ^iM'higan  ami  Superior,  arj  repre- 
sriKrd  with  a  akaip  on  liiv  former,  and  a  steamboat  uo  the 
latii;.'.  towanla  which  an  Inlian  nn  tlie  ah«ir«  is  pointing.  In 
the  dviiuioR  H  a  level  nriirte,  akined  liy  a  range  of  wood- 
IuimI-  a  liir'-ii-houae  ttntl  arhool-bnuae  mi  Ihe  k.ft,  aivl  the 
Kale-tHHuw*  III  ih*^  nrntrn  In  ■  aenii-cirrtr  alaive  are  the 
wonN  ''nilitat  tyrceiml  Hnrbanim~-'  1  ivilaalinn  haeswv 


r«nslltntinn  adopted.  .S<'plamher  17, 1787. 
SKAL. — 'llw  folkiwing  ■  >he  mninled  deecnplinn  of  Ihe 
denra  of  the  cMd  of  the  ('niiod  Ktaiei,  as  adopteil  hy  Cmi- 
gr^aaon  the 2nin<>f  June,  I7K! :  'Armt:  I'alnuaya  of  thir- 
teen piema,  argent  aial  gales ;  a  chiet  azure ;  the  esruli'.li- 
enn  on  tlie  btwst  of  the  American  eagle  dispis;  e<l,  pn)|irr, 
hohluig  in  his  dexter  takv-  ,<  olive  branch,  and  ii>  his  siiiis- 
vs. -n  pn>per,aiid  in  :i!a  lieak  a 
PpfHniw  imwn.     Kor  iha 


OMnJf,!  liartnrism  ' 
rrtiirial  siivumme,it 
and  an><tiid  vue  wIk       ,. 
iha'lerntorvnfWiK       .r 

PnftUattim  —In 

Nu  of  K«^reaeiiU>^  .as  , 


Imtoni  is  the  dale  when  a  ter- 
irmeil.  "  K.-urth  of  July.  1836  ^■' 

'he  wnnia  -  Tht  Great  Seal  of 

hich  lias  not  let  been  cfaargnd. 

j;  1l«0,niK.mi 
1  c'onfresa,  3  ;  KleiHoral  voles,  S. 


ter  a  bundle  of  ihinaen 
Bcnill  wacnhed  with  tl- 
rraat :  Over  the  head  ' 
tacutchenn,  a  rk>ry,a 
aurrounding  iluiteaa  r 
on  an  azure  field  " 

}'ofmlo     -I   -la  ; 
7Z«I,8U,  .I'-^i- 

ISull,  ZvKl.j' 

No  of  R    .    -•./■.■ 
KlectorulT  •  ..   -«, 


-.^-V-^  which  appesrs  above  ilie 
ir  hrougharloud,  pni|a<r.niHl 
•>->mt  a  cunslalUtioii,  sxgent, 

.t,aa7:  isni),  i^fn]-.  ism. 
iKU.  i3,;Me,giio  i  1810,  i7/ieB,t.'i.i . 

,,334;  Palagatsa,  6;  Snaton^  S; 


r 


■^, 


'  I 


